Shenzhou-15 astronauts work in the second round of extravehicular activities on March 2, 2023. Photo: CCTV News

The Shenzhou-15 taikonauts onboard the orbiting Chinese Tiangong space station recently completed their second spacewalk, according to the China Manned Space Agency on Thursday. 

Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu, together with Deng Qingming, who supported his crewmates from inside the space station, worked together to accomplish all their set tasks. Fei and Zhang safely returned to the Wentian lab module.

The three-man crew has been living in orbit for three months since they entered the space station combination on November 30, 2022. By carrying out two spacewalks, completing several tests on science experiment cabinets and cargo exiting tasks, the three-man crew of China's Shenzhou-15 manned spaceship has made significant progress.

The science experiment projects have been carried out as planned. China's home-made two-photon microscope recently took the world's first 3D images of the astronauts' skin epidermis and superficial dermis in the space station, providing a new tool for monitoring astronauts' health. 

The first ignition test has also been successfully conducted in the combustion science experiment cabinet in the Mengtian lab module, laying a foundation for future projects after testing the experiment system's completeness and the entire experiment process' accuracy.

Shenzhou-15 docked with the space station combination on November 30 in 2022 and its crew is scheduled to return to Earth in May. 

Major works across Shenzhou-15 are put under six categories, including the verification of long-term stays in the space station combo, the unlocking, installation and testing of 15 science experiment cabinets and carrying out of more than 40 experiments in the fields of space science research and applications, space medicine and space technology.

Following the completion of China's Space Station at the end of 2022, China released in mid-February the roadmap for this year, which includes two manned spaceship missions and one or two cargo spacecraft missions.

Global Times