Two Chinese astronauts completed a nine-hour spacewalk on Tuesday, breaking the US record for the world’s longest spacewalk set in 2001, marking the latest milestone in Beijing’s ambitious space programme, Chinese media reported.
According to the China Manned Space Agency, Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong, crew members of the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft, completed the nine-hour spacewalk, better known as a spacewalk, shortly before 10 p.m. Beijing time.
The previous record of eight hours and 56 minutes was set by US astronauts Jim Voss and Susan Helms on March 12, 2001, NASA said.
China has made significant efforts to establish itself as a major player in space, an area that countries, including the United States, are increasingly turning to not only from a scientific perspective, but also from a resource and national security perspective.
China’s National Space Administration has carried out a series of increasingly sophisticated robotic lunar missions in recent years, including the first-ever return of lunar samples from the back side of the moon earlier this year.
China also aims to become the second country after the United States to land on the moon and has unveiled a specially designed spacesuit for the mission, which is expected to take place by 2030.
