|
CHINA> National
![]() |
|
China to put 1st Chinese woman in space
By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-09 07:55 China's first astronaut, Yang Liwei, who blasted off six years ago, may soon see a woman follow him on the long journey into space. "The selection (of China's first woman astronaut) is underway I believe Chinese women will be seen in space in the near future," Yang said during a webchat with xinhuanet.com on Tuesday. Yang, now 44, made history when he voyaged beyond the planet's atmosphere for 21 hours aboard the Shenzhou V spaceship in 2003.
He was among a batch of 14 Chinese men trained to be astronauts. Now, he is in charge of the country's selection of the next generation of astronauts. He did not say how many women will be recruited into the program but was adamant women will be among China's second batch of astronauts. An Air Force source told China Daily that potential female astronauts would be recruited from the 16 female fighter pilots who graduated in April. The 16 became the first young women in China qualified to fly fighter jets. They were chosen from 150,000 high school graduates in 12 provinces. Sui Guosheng, the Air Force officer in charge of recruitment, told Guangzhou-based Nanfang Weekly that those chosen to join the astronaut program will undergo between two and three years of training. The first female astronaut could complete her journey into space by 2012, Sui said. Yang said the astronaut training program has been tweaked for the second batch of astronauts. Volunteers, including university students and parachutists, have participated in experiments aiming at finding out how women differ from men - both biologically and physically. "Women are better at handling loneliness in space where you can only hear the buzzing sound of machines," said Pang Zhihao, a researcher with the China Academy of Space Technology.
And the differences have led some experts to conclude that women are better suited to long-term missions in space, he added. The first woman in space, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, piloted the Soviet Union's Vostok 6 back in June 1963, staying in space for almost three full days. In addition to the Soviet Union, the US, Japan, South Korea and Europe have all put women into space. |
主站蜘蛛池模板: 荃湾区| 黄大仙区| 抚宁县| 建昌县| 肇州县| 逊克县| 津南区| 尚义县| 南陵县| 望谟县| 扎鲁特旗| 泸州市| 邢台县| 钦州市| 浑源县| 鄂尔多斯市| 伊宁市| 白沙| 中西区| 绥棱县| 大兴区| 色达县| 正安县| 于都县| 时尚| 溆浦县| 庄浪县| 赞皇县| 西乌珠穆沁旗| 黔西县| 怀化市| 申扎县| 皋兰县| 河源市| 贵南县| 长寿区| 嵊州市| 睢宁县| 隆昌县| 武陟县| 沽源县| 兖州市| 彭水| 枣强县| 鱼台县| 普格县| 盐山县| 新源县| 宝应县| 枞阳县| 新巴尔虎右旗| 隆安县| 西乌珠穆沁旗| 吐鲁番市| 班戈县| 合江县| 平潭县| 同仁县| 洪泽县| 麻阳| 常山县| 潞城市| 庆云县| 九龙坡区| 宁陵县| 保定市| 丹寨县| 烟台市| 曲沃县| 平利县| 会同县| 星座| 青岛市| 亳州市| 龙海市| 雷州市| 达孜县| 香格里拉县| 西贡区| 武清区| 黄石市| 孙吴县|