Beijing: Astronaut Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman who walked in space, said the authorities Monday, because her team finished six hours outside the Tiangong Space Station as part of the ongoing construction.
Tiangong – which means “heavenly palace” – is the latest achievement in China’s drive to be the main space force, after landing explorers on Mars and send a probe to the moon.
The essent module includes an orbit earlier this year, with the station it is expected to operate in 2022.
Wang and his colleague Zhai Zhigang stepped out of the module on Sunday night – waving to the camera while tethered to the station – and installing suspension devices and transferring connectors.
“This marks the first extravehicular activity of the Shenzhou-13 crew, and it is also the first in the history of Chinese space involving the participation of a astronaut woman,” China’s spacecraft agency said in a statement on Monday morning.
“The whole process is smooth and successful,” added the agency, said it was finished.
Tiangong is expected to operate for at least 10 years, and the three astronauts are the second group to live there.
Wang is the first woman to visit.
Mission Commander Zhai was a former fighter pilot featuring Chinese space in 2008.
Sunday operation came only a few weeks after Wang, Zhai and third team member Ye Guangfu exploded from the Jiuquan launch center in the Gobi Desert China Northwestern.
Ye, who lives inside while walking to support his friends, is a military pilot liberation of people.
Their work involves setting equipment and testing technology for construction in the future, with at least one planned spacewalk.
The team is expected to spend six months at the station.
Crew a previous record, which made the first mission to Tiangong, returned to earth in September after spending three months there.