The Shenzhou-20 crew on board China's orbiting space station completed their mission's first series of extravehicular activities on Thursday, according to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).
The astronaut trio -- Chen Dong, Chen Zhongrui and Wang Jie -- worked for about eight hours and completed the task at 16:49 (Beijing Time), assisted by a team on Earth.
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China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
Chen Dong and Chen Zhongrui, tasked with conducting spacewalk operations, exited through the node cabin of the Tianhe core module. This marked the first time that astronauts had exited via the node cabin since the space station entered its application and development phase.
The astronauts installed a debris shielding device at its designated location. The device had been previously deployed outside through the cargo airlock and temporarily positioned by the robotic arm.
Also, external equipment was inspected and maintained. They have since returned to the core module safely, said the CMSA.
The Shenzhou-20 crew was sent into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on April 24 this year to take over China's Tiangong space station from their Shenzhou-19 colleagues.
They are scheduled to stay at Tiangong for approximately six months, during which they will witness the arrivals of the Tianzhou-9 cargo craft and Shenzhou-21 manned spaceship.
After completing an in-orbit handover, Shenzhou-19 astronauts -- Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze -- returned to Earth on April 30.
China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
China's Shenzhou-20 astronauts complete first spacewalk
