Last December, China’s Shenzhou-19 crew stunned the spaceflight community with a record-breaking nine-hour extravehicular activity (EVA), marking the longest single spacewalk in history. Yet few knew about the unexpected hitch that almost cut the mission short: a jammed payload adapter.
Astronaut Cai Xuzhe, now the Chinese mainland’s most experienced spacewalker with five EVAs logged, described how the team quickly diagnosed the lock failure during equipment installation. Drawing on intense training and real-time teamwork, they devised an improvised tool to free the mechanism and kept the mission on track.
"We noticed the adapter's lock was partially stuck," Cai recalled. "Within minutes, we ran through our checklist, adjusted our toolkit and managed to unlock it. It was a nail-biting moment, but smooth coordination made the difference."
The fix underscored the Chinese mainland’s growing prowess in orbital troubleshooting. Beyond smashing duration records, Shenzhou-19 demonstrated how on-the-spot ingenuity and robust systems can overcome the unpredictable challenges of deep-space operations.
As space agencies worldwide push for lunar bases and Mars missions, lessons from this nine-hour EVA could shape future extravehicular protocols and emergency procedures. For the global community of young explorers, entrepreneurs and technologists, the Shenzhou-19 tale is both a technical triumph and a reminder: in space, adaptability is everything.
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Shenzhou-19 astronaut recounts fixing unexpected EVA malfunction
cgtn.com
