Wang Yaping Becomes First Chinese Female Spacewalker

Screen image taken at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Nov 7, 2021 shows Chinese taikonaut Wang Yaping conducting extravehicular activities (EVAs) out of the space station core module Tianhe. [Photo/Xinhua]

Senior Colonel Wang Yaping, 41, has become the first Chinese female spacewalker, as she is taking part in the Shenzhou XIII mission's first extravehicular activity with mission commander Major General Zhai Zhigang.

The extravehicular operation began at 6:51 pm when Zhai opened a hatch. By 8:28 pm, Zhai and Wang had flown out of the Tiangong space station, according to a statement from the China Manned Space Agency.

By now, they have installed assisting equipment outside the station and will use the robotic arm to mount new components and practice extravehicular maneuvers and rescue operations, the agency said, noting Senior Colonel Ye Guangfu is inside the station to monitor and support the spacewalk, which is scheduled to last six hours.

A native of Shandong province and mother of a 5-year-old girl, Wang joined the People's Liberation Army Air Force in August 1997 and served as deputy squadron commander before joining the second group of astronauts at the PLA Astronaut Division in May 2010.

In March 2012, she was part of the backup crew for the Shenzhou IX mission and in June 2013, she took part in the Shenzhou X mission, which lasted nearly 15 days. She is the second Chinese woman to have flown to space.

During the Shenzhou X flight, Wang gave China's first space-based lecture inside the Tiangong I experimental module to more than 60 million Chinese students at about 80,000 schools across the country.

She was selected for Shenzhou XIII in December 2019 and was also a member of the backup crew for the Shenzhou XII mission.

Zhai, 55, is the first Chinese astronaut to have conducted a spacewalk – he floated out of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft for about 15 minutes during the three-day Shenzhou VII mission in September 2008.

This short adventure made China the third nation in the world, following the former Soviet Union and the United States, to independently conduct a spacewalk.

The Shenzhou XIII mission crew was launched on Oct 16 by a Long March 2F carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert and soon entered the Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace. They are scheduled to undertake a six-month journey inside the station, fulfilling the nation's longest space mission.

Before the spacewalk, they had moved living and work materials from the Tianzhou 2 and 3 cargo spaceships to the station's core module, named Tianhe, or Harmony of Heavens, tested their extravehicular suits, and conducted training on robotic arm control and medical aid.

Their peers in the Shenzhou XII mission, which lasted three months and concluded in mid-September, performed two spacewalks.