Record in space
Chinese astronauts surpass NASA record
Updated on December 18, 2024Reading time: 2 min.
Two Chinese astronauts have broken the previous record for the longest space mission. This means that China is overtaking the US space agency NASA.
Two Chinese astronauts have set a new record for the longest spacewalk. As the Chinese space agency CMSA announced, Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong completed a nine-hour mission outside the Chinese space station Tiangong.
The CMSA spoke of the longest external mission by Chinese astronauts to date. According to data from the US space agency NASA, the previous record set by US astronauts was eight hours and 56 minutes, set in March 2001 by US astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms. According to NASA, cosmonauts from Roscosmos also did not have a long stay outside. The two US astronauts were still in the Guinness Book of World Records for their stay on Wednesday.
During the mission, the Chinese astronauts installed a space debris protection system for the station and inspected and maintained various equipment, CMSA said.
In May, Chinese astronauts set a new national record with an eight-hour, 23-minute space mission. This was made possible by the use of a new generation of spacesuits that enable longer stays in space.
The Tiangong (in English: Sky Palace) is the centerpiece of China’s manned space program. The station has a T-shape and consists of a central core module and two laboratory modules. The crew currently consists of three astronauts who arrived in October and are scheduled to return to Earth after six months.
China has ambitious goals in space travel and aims to take a leadership role. In addition to creating its own space station, the People’s Republic has made great progress in recent years with several lunar missions and the landing of a rover on Mars.