Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: Shujianyang Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

China’s Shenzhou-15 taikonauts are preparing to carry out their first spacewalking tasks for outfitting the country’s Tiangong space station.

The extravehicular activities are to occur within the next few days, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

This current trio has been living in orbit for 70 days since they entered the space station combination on Nov. 30, 2022.

Last stage of construction

Since boarding the orbital complex, the three-person crew have completed various tasks, including in-orbit crew rotation with the Shenzhou-14 crew, tests of scientific experiment cabinets, and spacecraft equipment inspections. They also performed medical checks, weightlessness protection workouts and a series of space science experiments, according to China Central Television (CCTV).

Image credit: CNSA/CCTV

The three Shenzhou-15 crew members are Fei Junlong, Deng Qingming and Zhang Lu.

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, noted CCTV.

China’s space station features a basic three-module, T-configuration consisting of a core module and two lab modules: Wentian and Mengtian.