Cai Xuzhe, commander of the Shenzhou-19 mission, recounted the incident in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV on Sunday. He first disclosed the episode during a press conference with his crew members, Song Lingdong and Wang Haoze, on July 9. It was their first official public appearance since returning from their 183-day mission on April 30.
Cai told CCTV that a payload adaptor unexpectedly jammed during a cargo installation outside the spacecraft.
The adaptor is a docking mechanism used for various tasks, such as extravehicular experiments or the replacement and maintenance of spacecraft or platform components.
Normally, a robotic arm can unlock the two locks on the adaptor, but the automatic process failed and left one half of the adaptor still attached to the spacecraft. It needed to be fixed manually.
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Chinese astronauts complete world record-breaking 9-hour spacewalk
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According to Cai, because of limited time and the unplanned nature of the task, they did not have specialised equipment at hand and needed to find an unrehearsed solution in cooperation with the ground team.
