Women break through final frontier
By Jane Chen and Lydia Chen |
March 11, 2010, Thursday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
TWO pilots have been selected as China's first female taikonauts.
And the pair, both transport pilots with the People's Liberation Army Air Force, might take part in the manned docking of China's future space laboratory.
General Zhang Jianqi, a former deputy commander of the country's manned space program, made the observation on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session yesterday.
"In the selection, we had almost the same requirements for women candidates as men, the only difference being that they must be married with children," Zhang said.
"We believe married women with children to be more physically and psychologically mature."
He said women astronauts theoretically enjoyed advantages over their male counterparts in terms of endurance and circumspection.
The two with "the right stuff" were among 15 female candidates in a selection process by the Air Force for China's second fleet of taikonauts that began last May, Zhang said.
Five men, all fighter pilots picked from 30 hopefuls, make up the remainder of the second fleet.
They are all now undergoing training for space missions, expected to take about five years.
The candidates had to meet strict criteria, including no bodily scars and perfect health with no serious diseases going back three generations in their families.
China will launch an unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, next year, which is expected to accomplish the country's first docking.
Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, would finally be transformed into a manned space lab after experimental dockings with three Shenzhou craft, expected in space within two years following the module's launch, Zhang said.
Weighing about 8.5 tons, Tiangong-1 is able to perform long-term unattended operations.
Zhang said Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10, the two spaceships to dock with Tiangong-1, would carry two or three astronauts each, probably including the women, if the docking with Shenzhou-8 is successful.
China selected its first group of 14 taikonauts in 1994. Six taikonauts have been sent aloft since 2003 when space pioneer Yang Liwei went up in the domestically developed Shenzhou-5 spacecraft.
This flight was followed in 2005 by a two-man mission carrying Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng.
The trio of Shenzhou-7 taikonauts, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, orbited the Earth for three days last year.
As the nation watched on TV screens, Zhai became the first Chinese to walk in space on September 27, 2008 -a 20-minute ratings hit.
And the pair, both transport pilots with the People's Liberation Army Air Force, might take part in the manned docking of China's future space laboratory.
General Zhang Jianqi, a former deputy commander of the country's manned space program, made the observation on the sidelines of the annual parliamentary session yesterday.
"In the selection, we had almost the same requirements for women candidates as men, the only difference being that they must be married with children," Zhang said.
"We believe married women with children to be more physically and psychologically mature."
He said women astronauts theoretically enjoyed advantages over their male counterparts in terms of endurance and circumspection.
The two with "the right stuff" were among 15 female candidates in a selection process by the Air Force for China's second fleet of taikonauts that began last May, Zhang said.
Five men, all fighter pilots picked from 30 hopefuls, make up the remainder of the second fleet.
They are all now undergoing training for space missions, expected to take about five years.
The candidates had to meet strict criteria, including no bodily scars and perfect health with no serious diseases going back three generations in their families.
China will launch an unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, next year, which is expected to accomplish the country's first docking.
Tiangong, or Heavenly Palace, would finally be transformed into a manned space lab after experimental dockings with three Shenzhou craft, expected in space within two years following the module's launch, Zhang said.
Weighing about 8.5 tons, Tiangong-1 is able to perform long-term unattended operations.
Zhang said Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10, the two spaceships to dock with Tiangong-1, would carry two or three astronauts each, probably including the women, if the docking with Shenzhou-8 is successful.
China selected its first group of 14 taikonauts in 1994. Six taikonauts have been sent aloft since 2003 when space pioneer Yang Liwei went up in the domestically developed Shenzhou-5 spacecraft.
This flight was followed in 2005 by a two-man mission carrying Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng.
The trio of Shenzhou-7 taikonauts, Zhai Zhigang, Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng, orbited the Earth for three days last year.
As the nation watched on TV screens, Zhai became the first Chinese to walk in space on September 27, 2008 -a 20-minute ratings hit.
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