- Chinese woman in space
China is expected to launch its first woman in space no later than
2010 . Following the successful piloted flight of "Shenzhou 5 " inOctober 2003 ,China announced plans to send a woman into space as well.Gu Xiulian , president of theAll-China Women's Federation (ACWF), told a gathering that she proposed that women, too, should be trained for space missions after China's first piloted space trip. Her proposal was accepted by the central authorities, according to a report in theBeijing Youth Daily inMarch 2004 .On
July 26 ,2005 ,Hu Shixiang , deputy chief commander of the pilotedspace program of China , told the "China Daily " that women astronauts would work as flight commanders or on-board engineers. In2006 the first group of four were due to be selected from a pool including professional pilots, scientists and doctors, but this did not happen.On
July 28 an officer in thePeople's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) said 35 women had been selected for pilot training, which would also include elements of astronaut training. They were chosen from 200,000 high school graduates and were between 17 and 20 years old. Their training will take four years at theAviation University of Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force . Subsequent statements have confirmed that upon graduation in 2009, the leading members of this group will form China's first female astronaut team.Although China has not given a firm date as to when it will send a woman into space, Western observers believe the "
Shenzhou 10 " mission, due to be launched in2010 , is a likely time.In
September 2004 , Chinese "space watchers" identified one female astronaut candidate, MajorGuo Liman , age 32 and an experienced PLAAF flight instructor, as the possible favorite to make the first flight, although in view of the emergence of the 2005 group of female pilots, this now seems less likelyReferences
*cite news|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-07/26/content_3267411.htm|title=Chinese women astronauts set to fly by 2010|publisher=Xinhua News Agency|date=
2005-07-26
*cite news|url=http://english.people.com.cn/200507/28/eng20050728_198725.html|title=China starts training its first group of women astronauts|publisher=People's Daily|date=July 28 ,2005
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