Shenzhou-19 crew sets new record for longest extravehicular mission

Shenzhou-19 crew members aboard China’s orbiting space station successfully completed a marathon nine-hour spacewalk at 21:57 Beijing Time on Tuesday, setting a new duration record for Chinese astronauts’ extravehicular activities (EVAs).

Astronauts Cai Xuzhe, Song Lingdong were assigned the EVA duty, while Wang Haoze assisted the pair throughout the mission from inside the space station.

It was the 17th spacewalk carried out by Chinese astronauts. China launched the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship on Oct 30, sending three astronauts including the country’s first female space engineer to its orbiting space station for a six-month mission.