Beijing faces criticism and calls for transparency after Chinese astronauts conducted a "secretive" spacewalk around the Tiangong space station.
Chinese authorities revealed preliminary information about the spacewalk this week, the second extravehicular operation in the last three months. The astronauts involved were two members of the Shenzhou 15 crew, dubbed the "Dream Crew."
China's Secretive Spacewalk
They successfully exited the Tiangong space station to complete what China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) officials said were "scheduled tasks" with the help of a third crew member. The latter remained in the cabin along with another one on the ground support.
However, the official announcement was provided after the astronauts completed their operation on the space station. Some reports also raised concern over the CMSA allegedly choosing not to announce the out-of-cabin process.
In a statement, a senior fellow with the International Assessment and Strategy Center, Rick Fisher, said that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), gains more power with less transparency. This power is the ability to deter, disinform, and disarm enemies, which reflects ancient Chinese strategic values, as per Fox News.
He added that the CCP, in all areas and not only in outer space, wanted the status of hegemon, which means that it cannot be held accountable for any non-CCP-created rule or value system. This results in the CCP not batting an eye or warning other nations about its space activities.
Last month, the CMSA provided a vague announcement that the Dream Crew was planning its first extravehicular operation on the Tiangong space station. Mission commander Fei Junlong led it on Feb. 9. The three-person crew has been on the space station for nearly 100 days starting from November 29.
Beijing's Continued Space Missions
The Dream Crew took control of the space station from the Shenzhou 14 crew, marking China's first successful manned crew handover. International space activities have once again become a topic of discussion in geopolitics after Russia last July said that it was planning to leave the International Space Station.
The plan was made over rising tensions with the West and signified a drastic shift in spatial relations. However, according to Yahoo News, both Beijing and Moscow are looking to shore up their orbital ties as even space-based dynamics are changing.
Fisher added that the CCP's contempt for transparency in space has already become an international hazard, noting that the threat would continue to extend toward its lunar ambitions. In November, China and Russia agreed that they would work together to develop a lunar station by 2035, including a station in orbit and on the moon's surface.
On top of the Chinese spacewalk, two-photon microscopes launched to the Tiangong space station on November 22 were continuing their work in orbit. They have captured various images of the Shenzhou 15 crewmembers' skin cells. Officials from the CMSA Engineering Office said that the microscope provided a new tool for authorities to conduct on-orbit health monitoring of the crewmembers aboard the space station, said Space.
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