Chinese astronaut conducts record-tying 6th spacewalk outside Tiangong space station (video)

A pair of Chinese astronauts ventured outside the Tiangong space station on Monday (March 16) — and one of them made some history.

Shenzhou 21 commander Zhang Lu and colleague Wu Fei worked for around seven hours outside Tiangong and completed their tasks at 7:25 a.m. EDT on March 16 (1125 GMT; 7:35 p.m. Beijing Time), according to China's human spaceflight agency.

Zhang and Wu, wearing Feitian spacesuits, carried out a number of tasks, including installing debris shielding to the exterior of the three-module outpost, before returning to the airlock of the Wentian experiment module. Astronaut Zhang Hongzhang supported the extravehicular activity (EVA) from inside the station, while teams on the ground and Tiangong's robotic arm assisted operations.