China considering sending first woman into space

A flag flies before an upgraded Long March 2F rocket carrying the Shenzhou-8 spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Jiuquan Photo: AFP

China may send its first woman into space next year as part of a programme to build a space station by 2020, the official Xinhua news agency said on Monday.

The announcement came as China said it would launch an unmanned space craft, the Shenzhou VIII, early on Tuesday to carry out the country's first ever space docking with a module that is already orbiting the earth.

The experimental docking is part of China's preparation for building its first space station by 2020, where astronauts can live for several months, as they do on NASA's International Space Station or the former Russian Mir.

If it is a success, China will launch another two space craft next year to conduct more docking experiments.

At least one will be manned, and two female astronauts are among those being trained for the mission, Xinhua said. If they are chosen, they will be the first women China has sent into space.

China began its manned space flight programme in 1990 after buying Russian technology and in 2003 became the third country to send humans into space, after the former Soviet Union and the United States

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