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Liu Yang Becomes China's First Female Astronaut
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.
An astronaut is american. A cosmonaut is russian. A spationaut is french. And a chineese person in the sky is a taïkonaute.
Was there something about being a woman that made it problematic being in space
you mean besides the monthly "make no sense, freak everyone out" day? no, i don't think there's any difference.
my sig pwns your sig
I think that's the point: there is no reason why there shouldn't have been women doing it all along. So it's notable when the status quo changes.
I am not sure why it matters that she's the first female astronaut.
It matters to those of us trying to raise daughters. They need as many role models as we can give them. I want my daughter to ask for a lunch box with a picture of Liu Yang or Sally Ride, and not the "Disney Princesses".
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.
This Liu Yang is surely a good astronaut, but as the news about this launch is more than half about having a woman on boars, makes me wonder what the real reason is to chose her over one of the other candidates they have.
This is one of the burdens pioneering women have placed on them: people are always second-guessing them, wondering whether they got their position on the merits or if are being given special treatment because they are women. Minorities often get a similar response ("oh s/he only got the job because of affirmative action"). Hence the saying "you've got to be at least twice as good as anyone else to be accepted as equal".
I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
No, she's the first Chinese female astronaut, which means that half an hour after she takes off, you have to launch another one.
You are welcome on my lawn.
The flight is to test a manual docking procedure and she's one of the experts in operating that system. She started her astronaut training 14 years ago, so she was chosen as a potential astronaut way back then.
Why assume that she was chosen for any other reason? The press is going to make a huge deal about it no matter what the reason because a female face in space sells advertising space - however they don't get to make the call, especially not in China.
Rank Country (or dependent territory) Prisoners per 100,000 population
1 United States 730 ICPS
2 St. Kitts and Nevis 649 ICPS
3 U.S. Virgin Islands (USA) 539 ICPS
4 Georgia 536 ICPS
5 Russia 522 ICPS
6 Seychelles 507 ICPS
7 Anguilla (UK) 480 ICPS
8 Rwanda 450 ICPS (c.)
9 British Virgin Islands (UK) 439 ICPS
10 Bermuda (UK) 428 ICPS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_incarceration_rate
Austronaut
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
which brings an interesting question... can astronauts really spend long times in space (months or maybe over a year) without any sexual thinking at all? i mean... at some point, if you do.. you have to unload... uhm.. are they allowed to?
Maybe that's why she's there?
(before the mods slay me, you have to admit it's the elephant in the room)