Chinese astronauts conduct 2nd space walk

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ANKARA (AA) – Two Chinese astronauts conducted a second space walk on Friday, the country’s space agency said.

Astronauts Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming walked out of their space station Tianhe around 10:12 a.m. Beijing time (0212GMT), the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement.

The is the second time in last two months that the Chinese astronauts have conducted extravehicular activities (EVAs).

A third astronaut, Tang Hongbo, supported the team from inside the space station during the six-hour task, the statement said.

“The astronauts completed installing the foot restraints and extravehicular working platform on the mechanical arm. They will continue to work together to install other relevant extravehicular equipment with the aid of the mechanical arm,” said the CMSA.

The three astronauts have been in space since June and will return to Earth by mid-September.

The crew’s first spacewalk was conducted by Liu and Tang on July 4.