China's Shenzhou 15 astronauts perform 2nd spacewalk and 1st 'fire in space' test (video)

Mike Wall
·2 min read
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A Shenzhou 15 astronaut participates in the mission's second spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station, apparently in late February 2023. (China has not specified the date on which the activity took place.)
A Shenzhou 15 astronaut participates in the mission's second spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station, apparently in late February 2023. (China has not specified the date on which the activity took place.)

China's Shenzhou 15 astronauts are keeping busy on the nation's Tiangong space station.

Two of the three Shenzhou 15 spaceflyers — Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu — conducted a spacewalk outside Tiangong recently, officials with the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) said in an update on Wednesday (March 1). Fellow crewmate Deng Qingming supported the excursion from inside the station.

Fei and Zhang "successfully completed all the scheduled tasks and returned safely to the Wentian experimental cabin," CMSEO officials wrote (in Chinese; translation by Google), without specifying what those tasks were or when exactly the spacewalk took place. Wentian is one of the T-shaped Tiangong's three modules; the others are Mengtian and Tianhe.

The extravehicular activity (EVA) was the second for the Shenzhou 15 astronauts, who arrived at Tiangong on Nov. 29, 2022. The other spacewalk occurred on Feb. 9.

Related: China's Shenzhou 14 astronauts snap stunning photos of Earth, the moon and more

A Shenzhou 15 astronaut performs the mission's second spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station, apparently in late February 2023. (China has not specified the date on which the activity took place.)
A Shenzhou 15 astronaut performs the mission's second spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station, apparently in late February 2023. (China has not specified the date on which the activity took place.)

The Shenzhou 15 astronauts have also made significant scientific progress during the first three months of their six-month mission, according to the CMSEO update.

For example, the spaceflyers worked together with ground personnel to inaugurate the "combustion science cabinet" installed in Mengtian, performing its first-ever on-orbit ignition test.

The trial "verified the completeness of the functions of the space station combustion science experiment system and the accuracy of the overall experimental process," paving the way for future projects, CMSEO officials wrote.

A flame burns inside the
A flame burns inside the

Related stories:

— The most memorable spacewalks in history

— China reveals the 3 astronauts flying on Shenzhou 15 space station mission

— The latest news about China's space program

In addition, the two-photon microscope that launched to Tiangong aboard the Tianzhou 5 cargo spacecraft on Nov. 11, 2022 has been doing work in orbit. The instrument has taken images of the Shenzhou 15 crewmembers' skin cells, according to the update.

The microscope "provides a new tool for on-orbit health monitoring of crewmembers," CMSEO officials wrote.

China launched Tiangong's Tianhe core module in April 2021, then lofted the Wentian and Mengtian segments in July 2022 and October 2022, respectively. Mengtian's attachment wrapped up the station's assembly phase.

Mike Wall is the author of "Out There" (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.