Shenzhou XV astronauts take their first spacewalk

As of Friday morning, Shenzhou XV crew members have lived inside the space station for 72 days.

Fei's team arrived at the station on Nov 30. They are scheduled to remain until May, when the Shenzhou XVI crew is scheduled to take over.

The Shenzhou XV astronauts are tasked with conducting several spacewalks to mount equipment outside the station, installing and testing scientific cabinets and conducting scientific experiments and technological demonstrations.

As one of the largest ever space-based assets, Tiangong currently consists of the Tianhe core module, the Wentian and Mengtian science capsules, the Shenzhou XV crew spacecraft and the Tianzhou 5 cargo ship.

As of now, Chinese astronauts have carried out nine spacewalks.