The Taikonauts team of the Shenzhou-17 manned ship, which operates at the Tiangun National Orbital Station (Heavenly Palace), made its first exit to outer space.
According to the Office of the Program of the manned flights of the PRC (CMSA), Tyikonauts Tan Hongbo and Tan Shenzze successfully completed the first mission of the team outside the station. At the station itself, he was assisted by the third member of the crew – Jiang Sinlin.
Tyikonauts spent about 7.5 hours outside the station, during which they engaged in the repair of solar panels installed on the Tianhe module.
It was the 12th exit to the outer space at the space station and the first exit to the open space of the Taikonautov team sent to the station as part of the Shanzhou-17 mission.
The current crew of the station includes three members of the crew of the Shanzhou-17 ship: Tan Hunbo, Tan Shenzze and Jiang Sinlin. They arrived at Tiangun in October of this year and will work in orbit for six months. Among the tasks of the team are cosmic scientific experiments, technical trials and installation of immaculated modules.
Chinese modular space station “Tiangun”
China built its own space station in orbit, since the United States banned cooperation in space development and blocked Beijing participation in the program of the International Space Station (ISS).
Tiangun station, consisting of the main module, two laboratory modules and including the space telescope, was built according to the model of the Russian space station “Mir”, which no longer acts.
The main part of the station, the module called “Tianhe” (heavenly harmony) was launched on April 29, 2021, the first laboratory module “Wennyan” (Search for the sky) – July 24, 2022, and the second laboratory module “Manchean” (dreams of a dream of sky) – October 31, 2022.
The orbital telescope called “Syntyan” (rotating in the sky) is also planned to be added to the station as a separate module.
“Tiangun” is designed for the work of three taiconauts (from Chinese Taikun – “Cosmos”). At their disposal – 110 cubic meters of living space. During the road at the station, six people can be simultaneously located.
The standard manned mission lasts six months.