Chinese Spacewoman Race

One of two female fighter pilots will become the first Chinese woman in space this month

One of two female fighter pilots will become the first Chinese woman in space this month, after the two were shortlisted for a place in the three-person team that will blast off in the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft. Both women, Major Liu Yang and Captain Wang Yaping, are celebrated pilots in China. Major Yang is known for achieving a succe- ssful emergency landing after a dramatic bird-strike incident spattered the windshield of her plane with blood. Captain Yaping flew rescue missions during the Sichuan earthquake and piloted a cloud-seeding aircraft to help clear the skies of rain for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The mission is part of China’s space programme, which plans to build a 100-tonne manned space station by 2020, a smaller version of the $100 billion International Space Station, which is a collaboration among 15 countries. China is only the third nation, after Russia and the US, to independently send humans to space. Both the women are in their 30s and have one child. Chinese authorities have decreed that only mothers can train as astronauts—because of their concern that spaceflight might affect women’s fertility.

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Lhendup Bhutia