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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.

2 of 229 comments (clear)

  1. Taïkonaut by manu0601 · · Score: 4, Informative

    An astronaut is american. A cosmonaut is russian. A spationaut is french. And a chineese person in the sky is a taïkonaute.

  2. Re:Congratulations for being the 56th female visit by aa_trna_syn · · Score: 5, Informative

    This June 16th is also the 49th anniversary of Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova's trip to space. She was the first woman in space. She piloted the Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963, to become both the first woman and the first civilian to fly in space.