China readying 1st female astronaut
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-06-16 08:55

China is expected to have its first woman astronaut in 2010, according to the latest issue of Science Exploring Magazine.

The world's first woman astronaut Tereshkova visits the China Science and Technology Museum, Beijing, from Russia, May 20, 2004. [File photo]

China plans to select women astronauts in late 2005 or 2006 across the country, and the first woman astronaut will appear in aspace station and work as a payload expert, the report says, quoting an official in charge of the selection work.

The women astronauts will be selected from among ordinary women aged between 25 and 45. Once selected, the women will receive three-to-five-year training before they are sent to outer space, which includes normal training courses for astronauts and special training designed according to women's physiological characteristics.

The first woman astronaut will go to space aboard a Shenzhou spaceship and stay in a space station to do some research work, says the report, adding that the craft will still be driven by male astronaut.

China's first group of astronauts, all male, were selected from the country's air force, including Yang Liwei, who became China's first astronaut orbiting the earth in October 2003 aboard the home-made spacecraft.

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