Chinese Taikonauts on Shenzhou-14 Mission to Work in Outer Space

BEIJING (Sputnik) - The Shenzhou-14 crew members, which are on board of the Chinese core module Tianhe of the Tiangong space station, went into outer space on Thursday, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said.

"Taikonaut Chen Dong successfully opened the hatch of the laboratory module Wen-Tian at 18:26 p.m. local time [10:26 GMT]. At 19:09 local time taikonauts Chen Dong and Liu Yang successfully left the module. Taikonaut Cai Xuzhe monitors their actions from the main module," the CMSA said on WeChat.

The taikonauts will use a manipulator to install a pumping machine, as well as lift the panoramic filming device of the Wen-Tian module, and the extravehicular activity are scheduled to last more than seven hours in total, according to China Central Television (CCTV).

The Shenzhou-14 spacecraft was launched to the Chinese station in early June. Its mission will last six months.

The construction of the multi-module Chinese Tiangong space station officially began on April 29, 2021, when the Tianhe module was successfully launched into orbit. Three taikonauts or six people can be on the station at the same time during a crew rotation change. The main module is equipped with two docking ports for experimental compartments, as well as three docking ports for manned and cargo ships.

It is expected that the construction of the station will be completed by the end of 2022, when the Mengtian laboratory cabin module will be attached to it in October after which the station will become T-shaped and will weigh about 66 tonnes. The operational life of the station is designed to last 15 years and should end in 2038.