China’s 1st woman to spacewalk works 6 hours outside station

BEIJING (AP) — Wang Yaping has become the first Chinese woman to conduct a spacewalk as part of a six-month mission to the country’s space station. Wang and fellow astronaut Zhai Zhigang left the station’s main module for more than six hours to install equipment and carry out tests alongside the station’s robotic arm. Zhai conducted China’s first spacewalk 13 years ago. Wang previously went into space as a crewmember on an experimental space station. They and the third crew member arrived at the space station Oct. 16, and their mission is scheduled to be the longest stretch of time in space yet for Chinese astronauts. Multiple crews are being sent to the station over the next two years to expand it and make it fully functional.