Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Two Chinese astronauts made their first tandem spacewalk in the history of the Bamboo Curtain country on Sunday, July 4. The two astronauts did a 7-hour spacewalk in the context of the construction of the Tiangong space station.
“The safe return of astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo to the Tianhe core module marks the first full success of space travel in the construction of our country’s space station,” China’s Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.
Their job in doing spacewalk this is to install a panoramic camera outside the Tianhe core module. In addition, they also carried out tests on the station’s robotic arm, which would be used to move the module to be installed later to different positions.
A video clip shows Liu as he exits the station. In the video, he can be heard exclaiming, “Wow, it’s too beautiful out here.”
Liu and Tang were also supported by the commander of the mission, Nie Haisheng, from within Tiangong station. Nie is an air force pilot, on his third space mission.
Apart from the spacewalk that took place on Sunday, the mission crew plans to do 1 more spacewalk, which will last from six to seven hours.
The Tiangong Station is a major step in China’s ambitious space program. Previously, China had also landed a robot on Mars, and sent several rockets to the Moon.
Three astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, launched into space last June to become the first crew of the Tiangong station. They are planned to stay at the station for 3 months.
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