To Boldly Go

China Sending Their First Women To Space Is Even Closer To Reality

by Jill Pantozzi | 4:15 pm, March 12th, 2012

Back in December, we brought you the news that the identities of the possible first Chinese women taikonauts (their word for astronauts) may have inadvertently leaked thanks to a stamp collector in Germany. Now we’ve got some more concrete proof as an unspecified number of women have passed through to final training for the space mission.

We knew China was training individuals for space travel but we only learned the names of two possible women included in that training because of signatures on a letter. Wang Yaping and Liu Yang were two of seven signatures. We can’t say for sure whether they are the two in the running now but odds are good. The question is, will they make the final cut?

According to AFP, “Three astronauts will blast off on board Shenzhou (“Divine Vessel”) IX between June and August to conduct a manual docking with the Tiangong-1 module currently orbiting the Earth, Xinhua news agency said, quoting an official with China’s manned space programme.”

Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of China’s manned space program said the three-person crew will be chosen at the last minute. “Tiangong-1, China’s first space station module, was launched in September,” writes AFP and the astronauts will stop there to perform scientific experiments before moving on to Shenzhou IX. “The mission is the latest step in a programme aimed at giving China a permanent space station by 2020.”

Dozens of women from other countries have traveled to outer space but since their first manned space mission in 2003, China has yet to send a woman. Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman ever in space, recently turned 75.

(via Yahoo)

http://twitter.com/tonyquine Tony Quine

Wang Yaping and Liu Yang are for certain the only women astronauts in the Chinese manned programme. If they do decide to include a woman in the Shenzhou 9 crew, it will be one of these two courageous air force officers who will go down in China’s history books.
http://www.thenerdybird.com/ Jill Pantozzi

Do you perhaps have a link to a source that says they are the ones for certain? I didn’t see that anywhere.
http://www.thenerdybird.com/ Jill Pantozzi

Do you perhaps have a link to a source that says they are the ones for certain? I didn’t see that anywhere.
Anonymous

Space Race II is on. I predict that America will send a woman into space in the new unmanned space shuttle just to beat the Chinese and get back international prestige.
http://twitter.com/tonyquine Tony Quine

Jill – I have researched and tracked the selection of these women very closely for several years. It was me who exposed the names in December by finding the signed philatelic cover. The Chinese have said openly that they only have two women in their team, but they are very cagey about naming any of their taikonauts until just before they are launched, so you won’t see their names or official pictures just yet. However, you can be assured that if you edit your article to reflect my comments, you will be 100% right!
http://pulse.yahoo.com/_R7GVNIKWG3S2UTHEQOMSZXT4M4 Anna B

They must be sluts!

(Can’t help myself, the “Reformed Whores Help Us Define Slut” post has made an impression on me http://www.themarysue.com/reformed-whores-meaning-of-slut/)
http://asterozoa.tumblr.com/ Kat

Taikonaut comes from the Chinese tàikōng (太空), which means “outer space.” According to good old Wikipedia, though, they’re actually called hángtiānyuán (航天员), “sailing personnel in sky,” in China (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronaut#Chinese).