Chinese astronauts worked in open space for 8 hours

As part of China’s “Shenzhou-20” mission, astronauts Chen Dong and Chen Zhuzhong carried out a record-breaking spacewalk lasting 8 hours, reports the national portal Adyrna. During the mission, they installed protective panels on the “Tiangong” space station. These operations were carried out on the station’s exterior to safeguard it from space debris and to conduct scheduled maintenance. The third crew member, Wang Zhe, who remained inside the station, provided support. This was the first time astronauts exited from the docking section of the previously unused “Tianhe” module. The installation of the protective panels is aimed at shielding the station from debris traveling at speeds of up to 28,000 km/h. The Tiangong station is expected to remain operational until at least 2035. For context, the “Shenzhou-20” crew arrived in orbit on April 24.