Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

The Shenzhou-17 crew members on China’s space station carried out a second spacewalking mission on Saturday.

Crew members Tang Hongbo, Tang Shengjie and Jiang Xinlin collaborated with the ground team to complete all planned tasks and returned to the space station during the 8-hour extravehicular activities.

Tang Shengjie remained inside the station’s core module. He assisted the other two crewmembers, including operating a robotic arm, to provide support for the space strolling duo outside the orbital complex.

Solar wing maintenance

According to China Central Television (CCTV), the primary objective of this mission was to carry out maintenance on the solar wing of the Tianhe core module on the station, eliminating impacts from collision by micro particles in space.

High-definition images of China’s space station were taken by the departing Shenzhou-16 crew last October 30.
Image credit: CMS

CCTV added that, following evaluation and analysis, the power generation of the repaired solar wing was back to normal. “This marks the first time that Chinese astronauts have conducted extravehicular maintenance activities on external spacecraft facilities.”

During the extravehicular activity, the astronauts also inspected the status of the space station cabin.

Wu Dawei, deputy chief designer of China’s crewed space program astronaut system.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Six-month mission

Wu Dawei, deputy chief designer of China’s crewed space program astronaut system, said the astronauts’ performance were flawless.

“Although it was Jiang Xinlin’s first time engaging in extravehicular activities on the robotic arm, he showed composure and remained calm,” Wu told CCTV. “The coordination between him and fellow astronauts, and with the ground team, was perfect. The mission was completed perfectly following our designed procedures and plans in the whole process.”

The station inhabitants, the Shenzhou-17 crew, arrived at the space station on October 26, 2023 for a six-month mission.

Image credit: Shujianyang Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA