Skip to main content

A spacewalk just took place that wasn’t at the ISS

The International Space Station (ISS) has been orbiting Earth for the last two decades, but did you know that another habitable satellite reached space in April?

China’s space station is currently hosting its second crew of Chinese astronauts, and on Sunday the facility saw its fourth spacewalk since deployment.

Two astronauts conduct a spacewalk at China's space station.
Mission commander Zhai Zhigang and fellow astronaut Ye Guangfu during Sunday’s spacewalk. CGTN

Two of the three Shenzhou-13 astronauts who arrived at the orbiting station in October emerged from the Tianhe core module over the weekend to install equipment on the exterior of the station, which orbits 230 miles above Earth, about 20 miles below the ISS.

Recommended Videos

Mission commander Zhai Zhigang and fellow astronaut Ye Guangfu participated in the spacewalk — or extravehicular activity (EVA) as the task is officially known — while Wang Yaping assisted from inside the station, Space.com reported.

This was Ye’s first spacewalk, and the third for Zhai. The more experienced of the two gained recognition in 2008 when he became the first Chinese citizen to conduct an EVA.

Zhai’s second spacewalk took place in November, which also saw Wang become the first Chinese woman to participate in an EVA.

Sunday’s work included raising a third panoramic camera outside Tianhe and carrying out various equipment tests, with the two astronauts returning to the interior of the station about six hours later.

China is planning to gradually expand the size of its space station and next year will launch two new modules designed for science research.

The current Shenzhou-13 mission, which is scheduled to run until April, followed the Shenzhou-12 mission that ran from June through October and which marked China’s first astronaut mission since 2016. Two successful spacewalks took place at Tianhe during the Shenzhou-12 mission.

China has been investing heavily in its increasingly ambitious space program, with President Xi Jinping earlier stating that China’s first fully operational space station will open “new horizons” in humanity’s efforts to learn more about the cosmos.

The country’s space program has been scoring some notable successes of late, including the successful deployment of its first Mars rover and the completion of an uncrewed moon mission that brought lunar rocks to Earth.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
10 amazing images to mark 60 years of U.S. spacewalks
NASA astronaut Bruce McCandless II performing the first untethered spacewalk in 1984.

On June 3, 1965, NASA astronaut Ed White became the first American to exit a spacecraft in orbit.

“This is the greatest experience, it’s just tremendous,” White said as he floated outside the Gemini 4 spacecraft on that historic day.

Read more
NASA to shut Spot the Station site. Here’s how you can still track the ISS
The International Space Station.

Did you know that on a clear night, it’s possible to see the International Space Station (ISS) when it passes overhead? Sunlight reflecting off the habitable satellite causes it to shine brightly as it orbits Earth some 250 miles up, making it easy to spot.

For many years now, NASA has operated a service that lets you sign up for text message and email notifications that are sent out shortly before the ISS passes within sight of your registered location. Depending on its path across the sky, the station could remain visible for as long as six minutes, giving you plenty of time to gaze upward and marvel at the fact that humans are living and working aboard the distant, orbital outpost.

Read more
The ISS just dodged part of a 20-year-old Chinese rocket
The International Space Station.

The International Space Station (ISS) had to raise its orbit on Wednesday to reduce the risk of being struck by a piece of space junk.

The maneuver was carried out at 6:10 p.m. ET by firing the thrusters on the docked Progress 91 spacecraft for 3 minutes and 33 seconds, NASA said in a post on its website.

Read more