Chinese woman walks in space, scripts history

Wang Yaping took part in extravehicular activities for over six hours in space

Beijing: Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman astronaut to walk in space as she moved out of the under-construction space station and took part in extravehicular activities for over six hours along with her male colleague Zhai Zhigang, official media here reported.

The two moved out of the space station core module called Tianhe and spent 6.5 hours of the spacewalk in the early hours of Monday and successfully returned to the module, Xinhua news agency reported.This marks the first spacewalk in Chinese space history involving a woman astronaut, the China Manned Space Agency.

China had launched the Shenzhou-13 spaceship on October 16, sending three astronauts on a six-month mission to the under-construction space station which was expected to be ready by next year.

A native of Shandong province and mother of a five-year-old girl, Wang joined the People’s Liberation Army Air Force in August 1997 and served as a deputy squadron commander before joining the second group of astronauts at the PLA Astronaut Division in May 2010.

She was selected for the present manned space mission in December 2019.
The mission further tested the functions of the indigenously developed new-generation extravehicular spacesuits, the coordination between the astronauts and the mechanical arm, and the reliability and safety of supporting equipment related to the EVAs, Xinhua reported.

Billed as the most prestigious and strategically important space project for China after the country’s recent Mars and previous Moon missions, the low orbit space station would be the country’s eye from the sky, providing round the clock bird’s-eye view on the rest of the world.