China plans to recruit female astronauts next year for future space voyages following a suggestion from China's leading women's group, state media said yesterday.
Candidates are expected to be selected from not only China but Hong Kong and Macau, a senior space official told Xinhua news agency.
Hu Shixiang, deputy chief commander of China's Manned Space Program, said even though China's pool of available astronauts were all highly-trained men, it was possible to have less-well trained women on space missions.
Physical requirements for astronauts have been lowered due to the increased maturity of China's rocket and satellite technology following successful flights involving five vehicles since 1999, Hu said.
"Healthy common people can become astronauts for space missions after specialized training thanks to China's improved space training skills and women, of course, will be included," Hu said.
"Our selection of female astronauts will not merely be a symbolic, image project," the deputy space chief said.
Last year, China sent the 431st person into space amid a great deal of media hype.
Its Shenzhou V spacecraft carrying former air force pilot Yang Liwei (楊利偉) orbited Earth 14 times and returned safely.
Since then, the All-China Women's Federation, the largest quasi-governmental women's group, has lobbied for women astronauts.
"This suggestion has been accepted by the central authorities," Gu Xiulian, president of the Federation told the Beijing Youth Daily recently.
China plans to send two astronauts into space next year, but it is unlikely the duo will include a woman, as candidates for next year's mission will come from China's current pool of 14 all male astronauts.
Hu did not give a timeline on when a woman will go into space, but said the first group of female astronauts will only need three to four years of relevant training.
Selection for female astronauts will not be confined only to the ranks of woman pilots, deputy space chief Hu said.
China's group of 14 male astronauts were selected from a pool of fighter pilots from the People's Liberation Army Air Force.
Valentina Tereshkova of the Soviet Union became the first woman astronaut in the world when she was rocketed into space on June 16, 1963 aboard Vostok 6.
Sally Ride was the first American woman to fly aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1983.
Airlines in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia and Singapore yesterday canceled flights to and from the Indonesian island of Bali, after a nearby volcano catapulted an ash tower into the sky. Australia’s Jetstar, Qantas and Virgin Australia all grounded flights after Mount Lewotobi Laki-Laki on Flores island spewed a 9km tower a day earlier. Malaysia Airlines, AirAsia, India’s IndiGo and Singapore’s Scoot also listed flights as canceled. “Volcanic ash poses a significant threat to safe operations of the aircraft in the vicinity of volcanic clouds,” AirAsia said as it announced several cancelations. Multiple eruptions from the 1,703m twin-peaked volcano in
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done
Farmer Liu Bingyong used to make a tidy profit selling milk but is now leaking cash — hit by a dairy sector crisis that embodies several of China’s economic woes. Milk is not a traditional mainstay of Chinese diets, but the Chinese government has long pushed people to drink more, citing its health benefits. The country has expanded its dairy production capacity and imported vast numbers of cattle in recent years as Beijing pursues food self-sufficiency. However, chronically low consumption has left the market sloshing with unwanted milk — driving down prices and pushing farmers to the brink — while
RSS