According to Chinese official television CCTV, mission commander Zhai Zhigang, 55, opened the hatch to Tianhe’s node cabin at 18:51 p.m. (1051 GMT) on Sunday.
Fellow astronaut Wang Yaping, 41, joined Zhai on the spacewalk, becoming China’s first female astronaut. From within the core module, astronaut Ye Guangfu aided the two.
After 6.5 hours, the two returned to the core module at 1:16 a.m. (1716 GMT, Sunday) on Monday and rejoiced, according to CCTV.
Shenzhou-13 is the second of four crewed missions that must be completed before the end of 2022 in order to complete the space station. Three additional astronauts spent 90 days on Tianhe during the first crewed mission, which ended in September.
