Breaking the record! Shenzhou 15 crew completes fourth extravehicular activity

The reporter learned from the China Manned Space Engineering Office on April 16 that on April 15, 2023 Beijing time, the Shenzhou 15 astronaut crew conducted its fourth extravehicular activity, thus breaking the record for the most extravehicular activities by a single Chinese astronaut crew.

It is reported that during this extravehicular activity, with the close cooperation of ground staff and astronaut Deng Qingming in the cabin, the two extravehicular astronauts Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu successfully completed all the assigned tasks and returned safely to the Wentian experimental cabin. During the four extravehicular activities, the three astronauts of the Shenzhou 15 crew worked closely inside and outside the cabin and successfully completed the installation of the extravehicular expansion pump group, the installation and connection of the cross-cabin cables, and the installation of the support rods of the extravehicular load exposure platform, laying the foundation for the subsequent large-scale extravehicular scientific and technological experiments.

In addition, the Long March 7 Y7 carrier rocket carrying out the Tianzhou-6 mission arrived safely at the Wenchang Space Launch Center on April 13, and will be assembled and tested at the launch site together with the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft that arrived earlier. The Tianzhou-6 mission is the first flight mission after the manned space program entered the space station application and development stage. All the project participants are stepping up preparations to ensure the mission's complete success.

Source: Science and Technology Daily, pictures in this article are from China Manned Spaceflight

◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Fu Yifei