Chinese astronauts inspect damaged Shenzhou 20 spacecraft during 8

Chinese astronauts just got an up-close look at the damage that space junk can cause.

Two astronauts of the three-person Shenzhou 21 mission conducted an extravehicular activity (EVA) outside China's Tiangong space station on Tuesday (Dec. 9). They were very busy on the eight-hour spacewalk, which wrapped up around 5:45 a.m. EST (1045 GMT; 6:45 p.m. Beijing time).

The duo "fully utilized their active role as first responders outside the spacecraft, successfully completing tasks including inspecting and photographing the Shenzhou 20 return capsule's windows, installing the space station's space debris protection system, and replacing the multi-layered cover of the temperature control adapter," officials with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said in a statement on Tuesday (in Mandarin;