Chinese astronauts spent more than 9 hours in outer space and set a world record. Video

China's astronauts spent 9 hours and 6 minutes in outer space. This is an absolute record of extravehicular activity (EVA) to date.

The Chinese astronauts were outside the Tiangong space station from late Monday evening (December 16) to Tuesday morning (December 17). Cai Xuzhe, 48, and Song Lingdong, 34, who are part of the Shenzhou-19 mission, have written their names in the history of spaceflight, Space.com reports.

This spacewalk was the first for the Shenzhou-19 mission, which arrived at the Tiangong Orbital Laboratory on October 29 for a six-month stay.

During the nine-hour EVA, Cai and Song, along with crewmember Wang Haoze, who remained on the space station, "worked closely together and, with the support of the robotic arm and ground-based scientific researchers, completed the installation of the space station's space debris protection device, performed an inspection of off-transport equipment, and completed other tasks," according to the Chinese Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO).

"The off-ship activities were a complete success," CMSEO added, noting that Song, 34, "became the first Chinese astronaut born in the 1990s to carry out off-ship activities."

According to NASA, Chinese astronauts have broken the previous record for the duration of an extravehicular activity (EVA) by 10 minutes. NASA astronauts James Voss and Susan Helms spent 8 hours and 56 minutes near the International Space Station in March 2001.

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