Chinese Astronauts Conduct Second Space Walk Outside New Space Station Module

The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) says two of the three crew members on board the Chinese space station module Tianhe have conducted their second spacewalk since the crew arrived there in June.

Chinese state television broadcast the six-hour spacewalk live, showing astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming hard at work fixing a robotic arm, installing thermal control equipment and adjusting a camera. The third astronaut, Tang Hongbo, carried out the team’s first spacewalk July 4, and he assisted Friday’s event from inside the module’s control room. The spacewalk was the third ever in China’s space program.   The crew members arrived June 17 for a three-month mission aboard the Tianhe module, which will make up the core of China's third orbital station, scheduled to be fully operational and crewed by the end of next year. The module was launched April 29.