China to send first female astronaut in space

PanARMENIAN.Net - China will launch its historic space docking mission Saturday along with its first female astronaut in space, CNN reported.

Liu Yang has been selected to join two male astronauts, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang, as part of a three-person crew aboard the Shenzhou-9, according to China's manned space docking program, which says the mission will last 10 days.

A launch time is set for 6:37 pm local time (6:37 am ET) at a satellite center in northwestern Gansu province.

The carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, was scheduled to start fueling Friday afternoon, and the launch ground and control systems are ready, state media said.

Echoing a famous Chinese proverb, Wu Ping, a spokeswoman for China's manned space program said, "Women hold up half the sky. Human space missions without women are incomplete."

According to Xinhua, Liu, 33, was the deputy head of a flight unit of the PLA's Air Force and an air force major. She is also a veteran pilot with 1,680 hours of flying experience and, after two years of training, excelled in testing before being selected with another female, Wang Yaping, as a candidate for the crew.