Shenzhou-12 astronaut Boming Liu left the station at 8:11 PM ET on July 3rd and was later joined by crewmate Hongbo Tang. Haisheng Nie, the objectives leader, stayed inside the Tianhe “Harmony of the Heavens” team module to support them.
The 2 astronauts went out to do work on the modules robotic arm while wearing Chinas next-generation Feitian EVA matches. The components they set up will help future missions as China looks to complete its brand-new space station at some point in 2022.
“The safe return of astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo to the Tianhe core module marks the total success of the very first spacewalk in our nations spaceport station building and construction,” Chinas Manned Space Agency stated in a declaration.
The last time a Chinese astronaut left their craft was back in 2008 when Zhigang Zhai put China in the history books as the third-ever nation to finish a spacewalk. In the previous year, the nation successfuly landed its first-ever rover on Mars and retrieved rock and soil samples from the Moon. The nations space agency plans a 2nd spacewalk before the Shenzhou-12 crew go back to Earth later this year.All products suggested by Engadget are selected by our editorial group, independent of our parent company. Some of our stories include affiliate links. We might earn an affiliate commission if you purchase something through one of these links.

On early Sunday early morning, two Chinese astronauts completed work outside of their nations Tiangong space station. The event was the second-ever spacewalk in Chinas history. As The Guardian mentions, its also the first time its astronauts have finished a tandem extravehicular activity (EVA).