Chinese women in space...married, of course
Philosophy

Chinese women in space...married, of course



What a strange statement...

"We believe married women would be more physically and psychologically mature," Zhang said.

"China to Send First (Married) Female Astronauts to Space in 2012"

by

Sara Yin

October 31st, 2011

PCmag

China may be launching its first women into space next year, according to government mouthpiece, Xinhua.

The two unnamed women are around 30 years old, fighter pilots from the People's Liberation Army, and perhaps most importantly, they are married—but not to each other. In an interview last year with Zhang Jianqi, former deputy commander of the country's manned space program, the only difference in requirements set for Chinese male and female candidates was that the women be married.

"We believe married women would be more physically and psychologically mature," Zhang said.

The female astronauts, or "taikonauts" as local English journalists call them because "tai ko" means "space" in Chinese, might join seven men for a space docking mission at Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace," a space lab module being used to test docking abilities to support a larger space station complex.

"We must assess both male and female astronauts to verify if human beings can live in space as there are huge differences between men and women in spite of their common generalities," Chen Shanguang, director of the Astronaut Center of China, told Xinhua.

In a recent interview with the Huffington Post, NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell said that the "personal hygiene aspects of being a woman" were especially challenging. "Suits weren't designed with us in mind," she said. "When you have to go to the bathroom, the whole flight suit has to come off. That's not cool. Also, the toilet on board the ISS was designed by the Russians and as they have very few women in their corps, it was created with men in mind. We're called upon to have a lot of fortitude in these cases. You have to make it work somehow."

NASA launched its first woman in space, Sally Ride, in 1983, on the Challenger. However Russia launched the world's first woman in space in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, who piloted the Vostok 6.




- Mattel, Nasa, Mars=mars Explorer Barbie
"She's a Barbie girl in an INTERGALACTIC world: Nasa teams up with Mattel to turn the red planet pink with a Mars Explorer doll" Mars Explorer Barbie comes with a spacesuit, helmet and oxygen tank It has been launched to celebrate the Mars Curiosity...

- Zebra Spiders And Fungus-killing Bacterium To Visit The Iss
Dorothy Chen and Sara Ma"Space Lab Contest Picks Experiments Featuring Spiders and Bacteria"byKenneth ChangMarch 22nd, 2012The New York TimesA zebra spider spins no webs, but instead catches its prey by leaping onto it. But in space, a zebra spider would...

- Half Way To Mars And Something Similar Happens...then What
"Space Station Malfunction Prompts Shutdowns" by William Harwood August 1st, 2010 The New York Times One of two coolant systems aboard the International Space Station malfunctioned late Saturday, triggering alarms and extensive power shutdowns to keep...

- Calvin Dale Smith's Fetish And Sally Ride
"Random Guy Allegedly Steals Astronaut Sally Ride’s Flight Suit" by Alexis Madrigal June 10th, 2010 Wired A Texas man was indicted for stealing one of famed astronaut Sally Ride’s flight suits. Calvin Dale Smith kept the one-piece garment in...

- Women In Space
Valentina Tereshkova The first woman to fly in space, Tereshkova orbited the earth 48 times in the Soviet craft Vostok 6 in 1963. For three days, she maintained a flight log, took photographs and manually oriented her spacecraft. Svetlana Savitskaya...



Philosophy








.