Tiangong (China's Space Station) Conducts First Spacewalk

China’s Tiangong space station, meaning “Heavenly Palace,” marked another milestone: a first exterior spacewalk by one of the astronauts currently living aboard the “Palace.”

The Tiangong program is China’s first permanent crewed space station, and an answer to the ESA/NASA-led International Space Station initiative.

Congrats to China on a genuinely impressive solo space station project. All told, China’s Tiangong is expected to weigh about one quarter what the International Space Station (ISS) weighs. China’s space agency, the CNSA, is one of the most secretive in the world, and does not often publicly share its progress.

This space station, in FULCRUM’s view, provides humanity with some needed redundancy should something go wrong aboard the aging, Western bureaucracy-reliant International Space Station. As long as China’s primary goal remains exploration of spaceflight, and not mere flag waving or elevated nationalism, we see it as a strong positive for the planet — and another superpower coming of age, finding its space legs as the US and Russia have, and is their right.

— FULCRUM Research