For the crew members of the Shenzhou-13, this will be the first trip outside the ship
BEIJING, November 5. /tass/. The crew members of the Chinese Shenzhou-13 manned spacecraft in orbit are planning to make a spacewalk in the next few days. This was announced on Friday by the Administration of the Manned Space Flight Program of the People's Republic of China.
"The Shenzhou-13 crew members will make their first spacewalk in the next few days," the statement said. It is noted that since arriving at the station on October 16, they have been moving cargo delivered to the base module of the Tianhe station. The Taikonauts unpacked the spacesuits and tested them, conducted a medical examination, and also did a series of exercises to get used to the conditions of weightlessness.
In addition, they conducted exercises on the provision of medical assistance and emergency evacuation from the station, as well as trained in the use of a mechanical manipulator arm installed on the outside of the station.
The Shenzhou-13 crew consists of three people: for Commander Zhai Zhigang and female cosmonaut Wang Yaping, this is the second flight into space, while for their colleague Ye Guangfu, the expedition is a career debut. According to the Department of the Manned Space Flight Program, the astronauts are in good condition, and the station equipment is operating normally.
Zhai Zhigang is the first Chinese cosmonaut to make a spacewalk. In 2008, during the Shenzhou-7 mission, he stayed outside the ship for 22 minutes.
About the expedition
The launch of Shenzhou-13 took place on October 16 at 00:23 local time (19:23 Moscow time, October 15) at the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in Northern China. After nine and a half hours, the Taikonauts entered the main module of the station and began operations for its maintenance and operation. They will stay in orbit for six months.
The launch of Shenzhou-13 is the sixth mission for the construction of the PRC orbital station, it will complete the first stage of the project, during which key equipment is being tested. In 2022, China plans to carry out the work of the second stage, when the installation of space compartments will be carried out. To do this, the administration of the country's manned space flight program will send six more vehicles into orbit, two of them are the Wentian and Mengtian modules, two more are manned, and the rest are cargo.
