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Astronaut becomes China’s first woman to walk in space

Astronaut Wang Yaping became the first Chinese woman to walk in space, authorities said on Monday, as her team completed a six-hour stint outside the Tiangong space station as part of its ongoing construction.

China saw its first woman to ever walk in space when she worked on the Chinese space station Tianhe on Nov. 7.

China Manned Space Engineering Network posted video to Weibo showing Wang Yaping leaving and re-entering the module, along with fellow astronaut Zhai Zhigang.

China sent the astronauts to the Tianhe space station on Oct. 16 as part of the Shenzhou-13 mission to build the space station, according to China’s Xinhua News Agency.

Astronaut becomes China's first woman to walk in space
Wang Yaping (centre) greets the crowd before the crew’s departure to the Tiangong space station last month [File: Liu Huaiyu/EPA]

Tiangong, meaning “heavenly palace”, is a crucial part of China’s military-led drive to become a leading space power, after landing a rover on Mars and sending probes to the Moon.

Its core module entered orbit earlier this year, with the station expected to be operational by 2022.

Wang, 41, and Zhai, 55, have previously travelled to China’s now-retired experimental space stations, and Zhai conducted China’s first spacewalk 13 years ago.

Both waved to the camera while tethered to the outside of the station.

“This marks the first extravehicular activity of the Shenzhou-13 crew, and it is also the first in China’s space history involving the participation of a woman astronaut,” the CMS said in a statement early on Monday.

“The whole process was smooth and successful,” the agency added.

Tiangong is expected to operate for at least 10 years, and the three astronauts are the second group to stay there with Wang the first woman.

Their work involves setting up equipment and testing technology for future construction, with at least one more spacewalk planned.

The team is expected to spend six months at the station.

The Tianhe module of the station will be connected next year to two more sections named Mengtian and Wentian. The completed station will weigh about 66 tonnes, much smaller than the International Space Station, which launched its first module in 1998 and weighs about 450 tonnes.

Three spacewalks are planned to install equipment in preparation for the station’s expansion, while the crew will also assess living conditions in the Tianhe module and conduct experiments in space medicine and other fields. 

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