Chinese President Xi Jinping visited the Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Wednesday. Xi was given a tour of the center and watched the preparation work for extravehicular activity by the three Chinese astronauts – Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo – currently in space before chatting with them.

The taikonauts are the first to set foot in China's new space station as part of the country's longest crewed mission to date.