The Shenzhou-21 crew completes its first space mission.

During the Shenzhou-21 mission, astronauts will continue to carry out space activities including testing applied payloads and conducting scientific experiments.

The crew of the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft on the Tiangong Space Station has completed the first series of space activities in this flight mission, the China Manned Space Administration (CMSA) announced on December 9.

The three astronauts, Zhang Lu, Wu Fei and Zhang Hongzhang, worked for about eight hours and completed the tasks at 6:45 p.m. (Beijing time), with assistance from the space station's robotic arm and support crew on Earth.

Of the three astronauts, Wu Fei is currently the youngest Chinese astronaut to carry out a space mission.

CMSA said the two astronauts, Zhang Lu and Wu Fei, assigned to carry out the EVA, have completed a series of important tasks, including inspecting and photographing the windows of the Shenzhou-20 module that returned to Earth; installing anti-debris protection equipment for the space station and replacing the multi-layer coating on the thermal controller.

During the Shenzhou-21 mission, the astronauts will continue to conduct space activities including testing applied payloads and carrying out scientific experiments.

China's Shenzhou-20 spacecraft suffered a cracked capsule window after a piece of space debris smaller than 1 mm collided at very high speed, creating a crack longer than 1 cm.

The incident has delayed the plan to bring the crew back to Earth on November 5, because there is a risk that the crack will spread, causing cabin decompression and threatening the astronauts' lives.

Since repairs could not be made directly in orbit, China decided to let Shenzhou 20 return to Earth without a crew to collect technical data. The Shenzhou 20 crew then returned safely on Shenzhou 21 on November 14.

This situation left the Shenzhou-21 crew temporarily without a rescue ship and forced China to urgently launch Shenzhou-22 on November 25 to ensure safety. This is the first time China's manned space program has encountered an incident of this kind./.

(TTXVN/Vietnam+)

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/phi-hanh-doan-than-chau-21-hoan-thanh-hoat-dong-ngoai-khong-gian-dau-tien-post1082082.vnp