Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category

 

Head of Senate Intelligence, Senator Marco Rubio, discusses recent classified briefing on the downing events that have caught public and military attention.

The lawmaker calls for access by scientists to the collected data, information that should be cross-referenced and made public.

Meanwhile, take a read of my Scientific American story, noting the new dedicated observatories and crowdsourced smartphone apps that will study strange sightings in the sky. But questionable data quality and a lack of shared research standards remain key challenges…

Go to: “Scientists Try to Get Serious about Studying UFOs. Good Luck with That” at:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-try-to-get-serious-about-studying-ufos-good-luck-with-that/

For Senator Rubio’s comments, go to:

Go to C-Span link at: https://twitter.com/i/status/1625717882578472962

And also:

https://twitter.com/i/status/1625812622233812994

China’s future space station plans include sending two piloted spacecraft and one or two cargo spacecraft into space every year.

This plan will be followed after the full completion of the country’s space station construction achieved in late 2022.

A statement from the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) indicates that the country’s space station project has officially entered the “application and development stage.”

Upcoming piloted flights

According to the flight mission plan, the Shenzhou-16 piloted spacecraft will be launched in May and be docked at the radial port of the core module.

The Shenzhou-17 crewed spacecraft will be launched in October, docking at the front port of the core module.

According to China Central Television (CCTV), during the two crewed flight missions this year, the Shenzhou-16 and Shenzhou-17 taikonauts will conduct spacewalking chores and perform cargo airlock extravehicular missions.

In addition, they will carry out in-space science experiments and technical experiments, CCTV adds. There will also be work on platform management, astronaut support, and science education activities.

 

It has been a bunch of busy days for identified and unidentified flying objects scooting across Canadian and U.S. territory, and other locations too.

After that sky-high saga of a purported Chinese spy balloon being shot down off the coast of South Carolina, the follow-up acts involve the U.S. military downing three unidentified flying objects over Alaska, Canada and Michigan.

Statista, a major provider of market and consumer data, offers some looks at all the high-altitude anxiety about what’s going down in the skies above.

“And while U.S. officials are still figuring out what the flying objects shot down on the weekend were and what purpose they served, unidentified flying objects, or unidentified aerial phenomena, as they are officially called, are not as rare as one might think,” explains Statista’s Felix Richter.

Meteorological equipment?

According to public information collected by open-source intelligence accounts, that Chinese balloon likely made its way across the states of Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska and Kentucky, says Katharina Buchholz, a Statista Data Journalist.

“It is less likely but also possible that it traveled across Colorado, Iowa or Georgia. Due to the weather on location as well as the very high altitude that the balloon was traveling at – 50,000 to 70,000 feet compared to an airplane at usually 30,000-40,000 feet – it was not always spotted,” Buchholz explains.

It remains unclear what led to the balloon’s voyage across the United States, with Chinese officials stating that the balloon’s journey was an accident and that is was in fact a piece of meteorological equipment.

Testing capabilities and reactions?

“Theories to what the balloon could have been doing over the country include China testing U.S. counter-surveillance capabilities and reactions,” Buchholz adds.

Citing ANI and Nikkei Asia as sources, Buccholz says that, through the balloon’s flight, China could have found out how fast military and intelligence sources detect intrusions into U.S. airspace and also how speedy the response.

“The second part of this tactic could also include a psychological component,” Buchholz says. “Chinese military planes are also known to repeatedly intrude into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, soliciting reactions from Taiwan. Russian also has a long history of similar behavior of fighter planes around NATO countries.”

Detected and destroyed

“As our chart shows, three more objects have since been detected and destroyed,” adds Statista’s Anna Fleck.

“These have all been smaller than the giant balloon and are reported to have different characteristics. According to officials, the object on Feb. 10 flew without any kind of propulsion or control system, while the object on Feb. 11 was described as cylindrical in shape and about the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. The fourth object, shot down yesterday over Lake Huron, was reportedly octagonal and had strings attached to it. It is currently unknown where the latest three objects originated from or what they were designed to do.”

Fleck writes that the series of incidents has also raised the question of whether more objects are indeed flying over the U.S. than usual.

Perhaps more are simply being identified and scrutinized, since the U.S. air defense altered their radar systems after the balloon’s detection to also detect smaller and slower-moving objects, Fleck adds. “Either way, regardless of the intention behind their creation, having objects flying at altitude is a clear flight hazard.”

Balloons, drones…and?

There’s a lot going on in the sky, according to data from the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, observes Matthias Brandt, also a Data Journalist for Statista.

“According to them, over 350 flying objects were sighted over the USA from March 2021 to August 2022,” Brandt notes.

“Of these, 163 were initially classified as balloons or balloon-like,” writes Brandt. “Another 26 sightings could be due to drones. However, no initial classification was possible for almost half of the aerial phenomena.”

Alien hysteria

Meanwhile, Richter has looked into public attitudes concerning unidentified flying objects (UFOs) and extraterrestrial visits.

“The fact that General Glen VanHerck, commander of U.S. Northern Command and the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), refused to “rule out anything” when asked if extraterrestrials could be involved in the latest incidents didn’t exactly help stifle the budding alien hysteria,” Richter suggests.

Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre did her best to calm everybody down in a White House press briefing on Monday, Richter adds, with Jean-Pierre saying that “there is no — again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns. And it was important for us to say that from here because we’ve been hearing a lot about it.”

Poll results

Looking at the results of an Ipsos poll conducted across 36 countries in late 2022, Richter points out that it doesn’t come as a surprise that the latest incidents involving unidentified flying objects sparked some lively speculation online.

When asked whether or not they think it’s likely that aliens would visit Earth in 2023, an average of 18 percent of respondents said that they considered extraterrestrial visitors a likely scenario for 2023. Respondents from India and China were particularly open-minded when it comes to alien visitors, while people in Great Britain and Japan were among the largest skeptics, Richter writes.

For more information on Statista and its creative infographics, go to:

https://de.statista.com/

Russian space officials have decided to postpone the liftoff of a Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft in uncrewed mode until next month.

That decision was made due to an “emergency situation” involving a February 11^th situation that cropped up with the Progress MS-21 supply ship now docked to the International Space Station (ISS).

Roscosmos chief, Yuri Borisov, spoke about the issues that have occurred in recent months at the ISS – a coolant leak from the thermal control system in the piloted Soyuz MS-22 late last year and more recently, a problem with the automated Progress MS-21 spacecraft.

Commission of experts

Roscosmos notes that there’s been “a violation of the outer skin” of the vehicles.

Meanwhile, a commission of experts is working on the Progress MS-21 case.

“Until the cause of the emergency situation is determined, a decision was made to postpone the launch of the Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft in unmanned mode until March 2023,” notes a Roscosmos Telegram posting. “We emphasize that nothing threatens the life and health of the crew.”

Systematic error?

In an earlier Roscosmos posting, former cosmonaut Sergey Krikalev addressed the situation with the compromised Progress MS-21. That vehicle has been docked to the station for several months, launched from Baikonur on October 26 atop a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket.

 

According to Krikalev, by inspecting in detail the leak on the Progress MS-21 radiator, the intent is to find out the cause of its occurrence. There is need to make sure that this is not a systematic error, because it may affect the following ships, he noted in a Roscosmos Telegram communiqué.

The compromised Progress MS-21 has been slated to be ditched in the ocean on February 18 – but not clear if that remains to be the case.

 

For the past week or so, the public has been witness to an aerial assault of sorts, flying objects that are, for the most part, tagged as unidentified, take on different shapes and sizes, are shot down with recovered pieces being studied, even “back engineered” to cough up the goods as to where they come from and what they are doing drifting about in our atmospheric firmament.

 

The language and grammar whirlpool about these lofty incursions should give rise to more reflection about Unidentified Flying Objects as well as the new nomenclature, Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon, or UAP for short.

The on-going reveal regarding these sky-high visitations means what to the UAP/UFO community?

Are there any lessons learned from these incidents and takeaways from pilot descriptions of the objects?

There are those that will surely portray these new close-encounters as part of an ultra-classified government plan to prepare the citizenry for “full-disclosure.” That is, yep, Earth is on the receiving end of stopover vessels from the vastness beyond sight, sound, and dimension of mind.

But just how much shadow, how much substance, are we dealing with here?

Eyewitness accounts

A leading doubting Thomas and nemesis of all the uptick in UFO and UAP uproar is Mick West, a writer, skeptical investigator and a former video game programmer.

“The varied pilot reports we’ve seen in the media illustrate how difficult it is to get information about encounters with slow-moving objects from eyewitness accounts,” West told Inside Outer Space.

“The difficulty of judging the speed of an object without knowing its distance is greatly compounded in an encounter with unfamiliar balloons where the pilots do not know how big they are,” West says.

West points to both congressional testimony and the recent output and on-going work of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the newly established All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO).

Low information zone

Balloons are a common source of pilot reports of UFOs/UAPs, says West.

A wayward balloon is a likely explanation for the “GoFast” UFO video, released in 2018, which seems to show an object moving at high speed over the ocean, but actually shows a much slower object, West adds.

UFO reports emerge because of a lack of information, West continues, existing in the so-called “Low Information Zone” or LIZ – the set of conditions where an object is just too far away, small, fast, blurred, or out of focus to determine exactly what it is.

“NORAD’s radar has always had a significant LIZ, where radar returns of low quality, or that resembled birds, balloons, or other airborne clutter, have been filtered out as distractions to the primary mission of detecting incoming conventional aircraft and missiles,” West says.

Expensive, dangerous shoot downs

“The furor over the large Chinese balloon has prompted NORAD to modify or eliminate the filters to attempt to better capture similar incursions,” West says. “This has resulted in low-information objects being selected from the LIZ for investigation. Many of these will be innocuous items, like stray balloons, potentially even of U.S. origin.”

Some items may be previously undetected adversary incursions, West concludes. “Disambiguating these will represent a significant challenge. Unfortunately, the perceived need to take rapid action will result in expensive and dangerous shoot-downs of a variety of objects based on limited information.”

Aerial excitement

All the chatter related to balloon shoot downs and UAP talk has also caught the attention of noted UFO disbeliever Robert Sheaffer. He’s an author, freelance writer, and skeptical investigator of all manner of bogus claims.

The ongoing aerial excitement involving balloons means, either that the Chinese have just now dramatically increased their balloon-launching activities, or else that such balloons are no longer being ignored,” Sheaffer explains, “and it’s more likely the latter.”

Sheaffer points out that the pilots, and other official personnel, seem quite clueless about what is being seen.

As noted in one CNN report, there have been some pilots claiming to have seen no identifiable propulsion on the object. Those pilots could not explain how the object was staying in the air, despite its cruising at an altitude of 40,000 feet.

“An object that is lighter than air does not need ‘propulsion’ to remain aloft,” Sheaffer responds.

“In recent years the Chinese have developed small inflatable drones that could possibly account for some sightings,” Sheaffer adds.

Effects of perspective

Similar in view to West, the question of “balloons” is relevant to the UAP video release of the so-called “go fast” object, Sheaffer points out, which may well be a balloon that drifted out over the ocean.

“That object is indeed ‘going fast’ with respect to the camera — perhaps 400 miles per hour — but relative to the ground, it is almost stationary,” Sheaffer says. “The aircraft is passing the object at a high rate of speed, which makes the object appear to be moving rapidly in the opposite direction.”

The fact that Navy pilots did not realize this, says Sheaffer suggests that those pilots don’t understand simple effects of perspective. “And the fact that the Pentagon’s ‘UAP experts’ failed to realize what was happening demonstrates their complete incompetence in such matters,” he feels.

As for the other two publicly released videos — called the Tic Tac and the Gimbal – “they are probably the infrared signatures of distant jet aircraft, and have nothing to do with balloons,” Sheaffer concludes.

 

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3740 duties.

Rover investigators are working through the best strategy for new drilling – that’s the report from Abigail Fraeman, a planetary geologist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Researchers are collecting additional contact science and remote sensing data from around the future Dinira drill target.

Flat area

“Fortunately, there’s no shortage of interesting things to look at from our current position, so the science team had lots of fun deciding on what rocks to observe,” Fraeman notes.

The plan calls for gathering composition and fine scale texture data on a flat area near Dinira by using the Dust Removal Tool, the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and the robot’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on a target named “Yakarinta.”

 

 

“We’ll also take the opportunity to learn more about the resistant features on the top of this rock, using APXS and MAHLI on a target named ‘Itu’ as well as a ChemCam [Chemistry and Camera] observation of a target called ‘Los Caracoles.’”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rare opportunity

“A nearby block that was churned up by the rover’s wheels gives us a rare opportunity to see a freshly exposed face of the Marker Band rocks, so we’ll take advantage by collecting a ChemCam and MAHLI observation of this rock on targets named ‘Macuanatapurucuara’ and ‘Uraricaá’ respectively,” Fraeman reports. Also on tap is use of ChemCam to observe a nearby block named “El Pato,” and Mastcam will acquire lots of mosaics of the surrounding area.

Looking up

“Curiosity will additionally be looking up several times this weekend as ‘noctilucent cloud season’ has returned to Gale crater! Noctilucent (Latin for “night shining”) clouds light up right around sunset, and we first found them several years ago forming very high in the sky during the early winter months at Gale crater,” Fraeman notes.

“These clouds are likely made of carbon dioxide ice,” Fraeman concludes, “and we’ll be monitoring them for the next few weeks. We have already caught some great images this season!”

Former cosmonaut Sergey Krikalev has addressed the situation with the compromised Progress MS-21 on the International Space Station – described as a coolant leak from the thermal control on the cargo ship.

Progress MS-21 has been docked to the station for several months, launched from Baikonur on October 26 atop a Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket.

According to Krikalev, experts are currently thinking about how to inspect in detail the leak on the Progress MS-21 radiator in order to find out the cause of its occurrence. There is need to make sure that this is not a systematic error, because it may affect the following ships, he noted in a Roscosmos Telegram communiqué.

So far, the situation with Progress MS-21 has not led to a change in the ISS flight program. The situation on board the ISS after the depressurization of the Progress MS-21 spacecraft is calm, Roscosmos adds.

The compromised Progress MS-21 is to be ditched in the ocean on February 18, and the plans to do so have not changed.

China balloon launch site?: A StratoCat twitter says that after 12 hours of painstakingly searching, mile after mile, all Inner Mongolia using Apple maps, the location of the a Chinese balloon launch facility has been found – tied to that alleged surveillance “spy” aerial mission over the United States that was later shot down over U.S. east coast waters. It is located in the Siziwang Banner, 85 miles (138 kilometers) north of Hohhot. Image credit: StratoCat

Mars collectibles: NASA’s Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater has placed a “depot” of 10 samples on the surface of Mars. The sealed tubes contain a diverse sampling of geology at the rover’s exploration zone, and may be picked up and returned to Earth in the 2030’s. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

High and mighty: NASA’s Mars helicopter continues to show off its scouting skills at Jezero Crater. Mars Guy notes that recent software upgrades allow Ingenuity to fly over rugged terrain while autonomously adjusting its altitude. Image credit: Mars Guy

Go to video at: https://youtu.be/lo-m7zmZczk

 

Hissy fit: Russian space specialists have recorded a depressurization in the Progress MS-21 cargo ship, which is scheduled to undock from the International Space Station on February 18. The passage hatch from the ISS to the ship is closed, thus the Progress MS-21 is isolated from the total volume of the station. All equipment scheduled for removal is already in the ship. The reasons for its depressurization are being investigated. “The temperature regime and pressure on board the ISS are normal, nothing threatens the life and health of the crew,” explains a Roscosmos posting via Telegram. “This incident had no effect on today’s docking with the ISS of the Progress MS-22 cargo spacecraft and will not affect the station’s future flight program.” Image of Progress MS-22 docking to ISS via Roscosmos.

The NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has submitted its annual report for 2022 to the U.S. Congress and the NASA Administrator.

In its report, the ASAP has flagged a number of issues and concerns, as well as making recommendations to NASA.

One worrisome topic noted by the ASAP is that the orbital debris hazard persists and continues to grow exponentially as space becomes ever more congested.

“For example, CubeSats and other small satellites are being launched with increasing frequency, and several companies are now deploying mega-constellations with hundreds, or even thousands, of satellites,” the report explains. “Some of these satellites incorporate the use of electric propulsion and autonomous onboard maneuvers with very short turnaround times, increasing the difficulty of tracking and planning for collision avoidance.”

Close calls are not rare

The report underscores the importance to recognize the prevalence of the issue.

“Orbital debris events and close calls are not rare, but they are in fact becoming more and more frequent as space becomes more congested and as national and international space players—who rightfully seek to leverage the high ground of space for commerce, science, and national prestige—continue to populate the space domain with new satellites.”

The risks are growing, the ASAP feels, and a more strategic approach to the problem is now necessary to arrest the risks and to assure that the domain of space remains sustainable.

ISS: controlled deorbit

Another area flagged by the ASAP is the controlled deorbit of the International Space Station (ISS).

“Although discussions are ongoing between NASA and the Russian Space Agency to make the controlled deorbit plan more robust, the ASAP reiterates its concern first stated in 2012, about the lack of a well-defined, fully funded controlled re-entry and deorbit plan for the ISS that is available on a timeline that supports the planned ISS retirement,” the report notes.

Furthermore, the ASAP recognizes that the ISS partners are operating at risk, today, without the capability to deal with a contingency situation that would lead to a deorbit.

“The risk to public safety and space sustainability is increasing every year as the orbital altitudes in and around the ISS continue to become more densely populated by satellites, increasing the likelihood that an unplanned emergency ISS deorbit would also impact other resident space objects,” the report says.

Board of directors

The NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has recommended the space agency should create a “board of directors.”

“As a part of an overall risk management approach and in order to develop and execute its strategic vision for the future of space exploration, the ASAP says that NASA should establish and provide leadership through a ‘board of directors’ that includes the Center Directors and other key officials, “with the emphasis on providing benefit to the Agency’s mission as a cohesive whole, and not to the individual components of the Agency.”

In a January 23 transmittal letter of the report to NASA chief, Bill Nelson, a noteworthy risk area for Agency attention is namely the future of missions in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO).

“While lunar and deep space exploration grow in prominence, the key role played by operations in LEO toward understanding and managing exploration risk cannot be discounted,” says Patricia Sanders, Chair of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

To access the full 2022 ASAP report, go to:

https://oiir.hq.nasa.gov/asap/documents/ASAP_2022_Annual_Report.pdf

China’s Shenzhou-15 space station crew has completed a set of what the country’s space officials tagged as “unprecedented” space walks outside their Tiangong orbiting complex.

Astronauts Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu performed extravehicular activities for about seven hours, exited the station’s Wentian module via an airlock cabin. Fei changed his position with the help of robotic arms while Zhang moved independently by holding railings outside the space station.

During their stint outside of Tiangong they installed “extension pumps” on the Mengtian lab module, and added restraint hardware onto the Tianhe core module.

The twosome also started the cargo out-of-cabin installation task, which will feature a coordinated operation of the devices such as load transfer equipment, cargo airlock module, inner and outer hatch doors, and robotic arms.

Operated by on-orbit astronauts or ground crew, the devices can be either moved outside or inside the cabin according to the requirements of the mission. This technology could improve the efficiency of cargo exchange inside and outside the cabin and reduce astronauts’ EVAs and workload.

Space colleague, Deng Qingming, worked inside the space station to support his crewmates, Fei and Zhang.

Fluid circulation

“Extension pumps have been installed on all the three modules of our space station. They are the pumps in the thermal control circuits, driving the fluid circulation, similar to what the human heart does. They dissipate the heat generated by equipment, just like how our cell phones get hot after being used too much. Then the fluid circulation would help cool the temperature down and dissipate the heat outside,” said Su Nan, the general mechanical designer of the space station extravehicular activity mission.

The pumps need to operate at high speed for a long time, and have to be installed both inside and outside the modules to ensure stable operation of the space station, Su told China Central Television (CCTV).

There is a set of pumps which were [installed inside the module and] launched into space with the module. They had been working before the astronauts installed the extension pumps. If the ones inside stop working in the future, we still have the extension pumps to work. Also, the extension pumps can start operation immediately after installation, and they can also be replaced with new ones,” Su said.

Stable platform

The foot restraints will offer a stable platform for taikonauts to stand on during their follow-up work.

“Foot restraints, with their position fixed on the cabin, are needed when the astronauts work on the outer wall of the cabin. The transfer of the foot restraints is aimed at facilitating work in the future. Two of the foot restraints will be anchored on the outer wall of the cabin, thus they need to be set up in advance,” Su said.

The entire space station is equipped with four foot restraints, Su added, which are usually stored at the exit hatches of the airlock cabin and the node cabin. The astronauts will determine where to install the foot restraints when exiting the capsule based on the needs of the mission.

“There are two foot restraints at the exit hatch of the airlock cabin, which will be installed onto a robotic arm when the astronauts exit the capsule, so they need to be stored there permanently. The other foot restraints are stored at the node cabin. During the space station construction phase, astronauts need to get out the capsule from the node cabin, and the node cabin nears the central position of the space station with three modules, so we made there another permanent storage site,” said Su.

Armrests

“One of the significant features of this extravehicular task is that the astronauts had to move an unprecedented long way, especially for astronaut No. 3, Zhang. He used about 140 armrests during his EVAs, which is pretty challenging,” said Liu Liang, chief designer of the ergonomic subsystem at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, during a CCTV interview.

During the mission, the other spacewalker, Fei, used robotic arms to move between the modules.

“We reminded him to warm the liquid cooling suit up before the robotic arms transfer, so that he could stay in a relatively comfortable condition. If he only started to adjust the temperature when he felt cold, it would be too late,” said Li Pengwei, chief designer of the extravehicular spacesuit information management and power supply subsystem at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.

Tracking system

The wide movement range of the mission’s first space walk also required a tracking system that can cover a larger volume of space for longer hours to ensure smooth communications between the astronauts in space and the ground control team.

The second generation of China-made spacesuits is called Feitian, and three sets of extravehicular spacesuits are used in rotation for their EVAs, and can be adjusted in accordance with human parameters like heights and weights.

“Taikonauts are mainly to adjust the size of the upper and lower limbs of the extravehicular spacesuit, particularly adjusting with regarding to their personal height to ensure that the extravehicular suits fit them well,” said Li.

“We chose the extravehicular spacesuits A and B for this round of EVA. Judged from the previous use, Suit B is used the most. We will maximize Suit B’s service life by using it repeatedly,” Li told CCTV. “All our extravehicular spacesuits are in good working condition. According to the overall plan, Suit B will be used to reach its service life to accumulate how many times it is used and how long its service life is, so as to accumulate data for the follow-up development of our products.”

Relay satellites

“We deployed three relay satellites to monitor the three cabins our astronauts used for EVAs. We did that to ensure the largest range and longest period of control and tracking, so that the ground control team could keep communications with the astronauts as much as possible to support their operation at any time,” said Xie Yuan, an engineer at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.

“Our astronauts completed all the procedures correctly and their operation is perfect. They’ve demonstrated strong operating and coordination capacity. Overall, the three astronauts worked closely and fulfilled these EVAs successfully,” Huang Weifen, astronaut system chief designer of China’s manned space program, told CCTV/China Global Television Network (CGTN).

These were the first EVAs conducted after the completion of the Chinese space station, and also the first spacewalks for Fei and Zhang.

First large-scale space walks

“This is the first large scale EVA mission involving all the three modules after the completion of the space station complex,” said Zhu Guangchen, deputy chief designer of space station system at China Academy of Space Technology.

 

“The astronauts need to pass through the interspace between solar panels and the module while carrying large objects. To ensure the whole mission is completed safely and smoothly, we conducted repeated simulation demos and analysis. Up to now everything is normal and all tasks have been completed as planned,” Zhu told CCTV.

The Shenzhou-15 crew, as planned, will carry out several more spacewalks in the future, said the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

Unlocked, installed and tested

Reported Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the CMSA:

“With the completion of China’s space station, we have now entered the stage of application and development. In the past two months, the Shenzhou-15 crew has unlocked, installed and tested all experiment cabinets on Mengtian lab module. They have started scientific experiments one after the other. Also, the Shenzhou-15 crew has completed first exit of cargo from airlock cabin, which laid foundation for our follow-up tasks.”

The three-person crew has been living in orbit for 70 days since they entered the space station combination on Nov. 30, 2022. Their six-month mission is aimed at wrapping up the last stage of the space station construction and starting the first stage of its application and development.

 

For videos of this first space walk carried out by the Shenzhou-15 crew, go to:

https://youtu.be/y3DmyYFQE0g

https://youtu.be/Fauwz8mutyw