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Liu Yang Becomes China's First Female Astronaut

Posted by timothy on from the holding-up-half-of-heaven dept.

China launched Saturday a rocket bearing three astronauts and an experimental orbiting module intended to presage a full-fledged space station at the end of this decade. While that's big news in itself, the launch also marks the first trip for a female Chinese astronaut. The BBC has a brief video, including part of a pre-launch press conference introducing 33-year-old astronaut Liu Yang, as well as her crewmates.

3 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Okay, and? by girlintraining · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    I am not sure why it matters that she's the first female astronaut. Was there something about being a woman that made it problematic being in space? Does something strange happen to a vagina that doesn't happen to a penis? No, of course not. It's already been proven women can be in space, or in combat, or do just about anything else a man can do that doesn't require erectile tissue.

    Congrats on joining the few members of the "50 mile high club", but I'll be a lot more impressed when the chinese get those people into a stable earth orbit and then return, not just breathe the thin air and then fall back... regardless of the sexual organs present in the cockpit. -_-

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    1. Re:Okay, and? by epyT-R · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      obviously there was a reason or they would have. We've reached the point where no one should be given props for something because of gender. Unfortunately, the pc police of the left wing don't seem to get that doing this is also discrimination. However, if it's not about equality, and instead about propping one side over the other to ensure reliable voting blocs and funding for certain political organizations, this newspeak 'equality' makes perfect sense.

    2. Re:Okay, and? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

      I am not sure why it matters that she's the first female astronaut. Was there something about being a woman that made it problematic being in space? Does something strange happen to a vagina that doesn't happen to a penis? No, of course not. It's already been proven women can be in space, or in combat, or do just about anything else a man can do that doesn't require erectile tissue.

      Congrats on joining the few members of the "50 mile high club", but I'll be a lot more impressed when the chinese get those people into a stable earth orbit and then return, not just breathe the thin air and then fall back... regardless of the sexual organs present in the cockpit. -_-

      Ever see a really hot woman driving a high-performance sports car? You can be sure of one thing: she did not pay for it, a man did.

      Since these represent the majority I'll give a most conservative number. For every 100,000 like that, there's 1 woman who is a scientist, engineer, astronaut, military combatant, construction worker, oil rig worker, professional athlete, skilled computer programmer, auto mechanic, plumber, etc. And women are 52% of the population so don't give me this "oppressed minority" bullshit -- you have the numbers to run everything if you really wanted to. You don't because you don't want to because that would mean getting what you want via the sweat of your brow, not via sex appeal and other kinds of manipulation.

      As the saying goes, women play God using the thing between their legs - men have to play God the hard way, using the thing between their ears. That's just one of those realities of life. All throughout nature you find female selection. Generally the female chooses what she perceives as the fittest male while the males compete for her favor. Among humans showing some cleavage can get you into a job interview or out of a traffic ticket, things a man cannot do with his body alone. You are shocked there is a counter-balance or a downside to this? Well duh. The downside of getting others to do things for you is that you don't do so much for yourself.

      Things like making it though a psychically and intellectually grueling space program, which you must do as an individual with no favor, distinguish a woman as someone who can get the job done herself. Most women would rather do it the easy way just as most men like their version of the easy way - that is physical attraction while marginalizing the complexities of emotionally and spiritually relating to another human being. A man who understands that is just as exceptional as a woman who can be an astronaut. Just different and opposite tests of that gender's weaknesses.

      That's why it is still considered "news" when a woman is a successful astronaut.

      If you think this is about sexual organs, as though you mean to imply that physical genitalia are the only real difference between men and women, you could not be more mistaken. The sexual organs are among the SMALLEST differences between men and women. Most of them are non-physical and much less obvious, leading to a great deal of confusion. There's not usually so much confusion when asked to identify the penis and the vagina.