Tiangong: Expedition 6

Expedition 6 began with the undocking of Shenzhou-16.

The Feitian EVA suit operates with an internal pressure of 40 kPa. This has the advantage that a decompression only takes 30 minutes, but every movement is strenuous. After climbing 50 to 60 meters along the space station, the astronauts have to take a breather halfway.

Chinese astronauts Tang Hongbo and Tang Shengjie performed on December 21, 2023 their first spacewalk in Expedition 6 (7h 30m). The main task was a minor solar array repair due to damages caused by micro meteoroids and debris. During the previous TG-5 mission, reduced performance of the solar panels was noticed. Photos taken by an external camera revealed a hole in the film, which was only 0.7 mm thick. Technicians developed a special tool to remove the damaged area, as the thin solar panel is made up of numerous small quadrants of solar cells. At the start of the EVA, Tang Hongbo climbed onto the smaller of the two robotic arms. This was coupled to the end of the larger arm. This gave the two robotic arms a span of 14.5 meters. Tang Tang climbed onto the outside of the space station to reach the damaged area. The repair work had to be carried out during the dark phase because the voltage is 100 volts during the sunlight phase. To do this, the two astronauts had to drill three holes in the solar panels. During this mission, only two of the three holes could be drilled.

Tianzhou-6 has finally undocked from the Tiangong space station at 08:02 UTC on January 12, 2024.

China launched cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-7 on January 17, 2024, 14:27:30.728 UTC to deliver supplies for its orbiting Tiangong space station, according to the China Manned Space Agency. Tianzhou-7 carries spare parts & maintenance parts for space station equipment, scientific experiment payloads &propellant, living supplies, clothing & food for taikonauts. Nearly 90 kg fresh fruit are aboard the spacecraft. There are also some gift packages of festivals. The freighter docked only three hours later at 17:46 UTC with the space station Tiangong.

Tang Hongbo and Jiang Xinlin performed on March 01, 2024 the second spacewalk in Expedition 6 (7h 52m). Based on the last EVA maintenance test, this EVA focused on completing the repair work on the solar wing of the Tianhe core module to eliminate the effects of the early impact of tiny particles in space. Jiang Xinlin drilled the third hole and cut out the damaged part. It is now back at 9 kW and is normal. After evaluation and analysis, the power generation performance of the solar wing is found to be normal. This is the first time that Chinese astronauts have completed the maintenance task on external systems of an orbiting spacecraft. During activities outside the spacecraft, the astronauts also checked the condition of the space station's cabin.
After all planned tasks were completed, astronauts Tang Hongbo and Jiang Xinlin returned safely to the Wentian Experimental Module, and the extravehicular activity was a complete success.

On March 14, 2024, the astronauts retrieved a container of material samples using the mechanical arm. These 407 samples of metals and non-metals were exposed to the conditions of open space for a year. They included manganese alloys, solid lubricants, shape-memory polymers, and materials for strengthening regolith. These will later be used as neutron shields for the electronics of nuclear-powered spacecraft.
The next day, the astronauts retrieved the container from the cargo bay to Mengtian's workspace. There, they were packed into transport bags and later transferred to Shenzhou's landing module.

Expedition 6 concluded with undocking of Shenzhou-17 on April 30, 2024 at 00:43 UTC.