China reported this week that two of its astronauts had made secret space walk around the Tiangong space station, which was the second spacewalk in the past three months.
Two crew members of Shenzhou 15, dubbed the “Dream Crew”, successfully exited the space station to complete “scheduled missions” with the help of another crew member who remained in the cabin along with one ground support, space agency CMSA said. reported.
But the announcement came after the operation was successfully completed, which, according to Space News, raised concerns about why China’s space agency decided not to announce the latest out-of-cockpit excursion.
This is a screen image taken at the Beijing Aerospace Engineering Control Center on February 2. On September 9, 2023, Shenzhou-15 taikonaut Fei Junlong is shown returning to the laboratory module of the Wentian space station with equipment. The Shenzhou-15 taikonauts aboard China’s orbiting Tiangong Space Station completed their first spacewalk at 00:16 Beijing time on Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency. (Liu Fang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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“For the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), less transparency means more strength, the ability to deter, misinform and disarm enemies, reflecting ancient Chinese strategic values,” Rick Fisher, senior fellow at the International Center for Assessment and Strategy, told Fox News. . digital “Moreover, the CCP in all areas, not just in space, strives for hegemonic status, which means that it cannot be held accountable to any rules or value systems not created by the CCP, so the CCP has no problem so as not to warn other countries about their actions. space activity.
Last month, the CMSA made a vague announcement that the crew were planning their first extravehicular operation, led by mission commander Fei Junlong, which was then carried out on February 12. 9.
The crew of three has been on the space station since November. 29, marking almost 95 days in orbit.
The Dream Crew replaced the Shenzhou 14 crew aboard the Tiangong, also marking the first successful manned transfer in China.
In this image taken at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, the crews of Shenzhou 15 and Shenzhou 14 wave their hands after the historic rendezvous in space on November 11. October 30, 2022. Three astronauts aboard China’s Shenzhou 15 spacecraft entered the country’s space station and met with another trio of astronauts on Wednesday, a historic gathering that increased the number of employees at the orbiting space lab to six for the first time. (Guo Zhongzheng/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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International space activities have once again come to the forefront of geopolitics, especially after Russia said last July it plans to leave the International Space Station amid strained relations with the West, signifying a major shift in space relations that has held up in recent decades. away from earthly politics.
But even space dynamics are changing, and Moscow and Beijing have already tried to strengthen their orbital ties.
“The CCP’s disdain for transparency in space is already a global danger,” Fischer said, adding that this threat will extend to its lunar ambitions as well.
Russia and China in November signed an agreement on the development joint lunar station by 2035, which implies the construction of the station both in orbit and on the surface of the Moon.
This is a screen image taken at the Beijing Aerospace Engineering Control Center on February 2. On September 9, 2023, Shenzhou-15 taikonaut Fei Junlong is shown returning to the laboratory module of the Wentian Space Station after completing a spacewalk. The Shenzhou-15 taikonauts aboard China’s orbiting Tiangong Space Station completed their first spacewalk at 00:16 Beijing time on Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency. (Liu Fang/Xinhua via Getty Images)
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They also launched two missions to be completed before the completion of the space station, one of which will take samples from the moon and bring them to Earth, and the other will test the possibilities of landing on the moon and delivering cargo.
The US also said it was planning another trip to the moon in 2025 for the first time in more than half a century, which will also be the first time that humanity has set foot on the Moon in over 50 years.