Shenzhou XX crew members make fourth spacewalk

Crew members of the Shenzhou XX mission have conducted their fourth spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station, completing several tasks, according to the China Manned Space Agency.

The agency said in a news release on Friday that crew members Colonel Chen Zhongrui, 40, and Colonel Wang Jie, 36, returned to the Wentian science module at 1:35 am after floating for nearly six hours outside the colossal orbital station.

The mission commander, Senior Colonel Chen Dong, stayed inside Tiangong to provide support, it said.

With support from ground controllers and the use of a robotic arm, the team completed all their assigned operations, including installing space debris shields, checking the condition of extravehicular equipment and fixing broken parts, the agency said.

The spacewalk was the 24th carried out by the Chinese astronauts, and also the first conducted by both third-generation astronauts.

The Shenzhou XX crew is conducting China's 15th manned spaceflight and has become the ninth group of residents aboard the Tiangong, which is currently the only operational space station independently run by a single nation.

By now, Chen Dong and his teammates have spent more than five months in orbit, carrying out a series of science and technology assignments. They are scheduled to return to Earth next month.

Their predecessors in the Shenzhou XIX flight made three spacewalks during their six-month mission.

Orbiting Earth at distance of about 400 kilometers, the Tiangong space station has three permanent parts — a core module and two science capsules — and is regularly connected to several visiting crew and cargo spaceships. It weighs about 100 metric tons and is expected to operate at least 10 years as a national space-based platform for science and technology.