Female Taikonauts Selected for Spaceflight

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) has selected two female pilots to join the Chinese taikonaut corps for flights into space perhaps as soon as 2012, according to media reports around the world. This is the first time China has recruited women to its space program.

In recent months this Blogger has advocated a flight by a Chinese taikonaut to the International Space Station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft with a Russian cosmonaut and an American astronaut in 2012. A second Soyuz flight could include a flight to the anticipated Chinese space station in 2013. Others have advocated Chinese inclusion in more general space regimes and treaties.

The People's Republic of China has an evolving human space program that includes a space station developing alongside a lunar and Mars robot probe program. Many expect the Chinese will launch taikonauts to the Moon between 2020 and 2025 following the first Chinese lunar landing probe in 2012. [Chinese space program review video by the NewAmerican Foundation, 1hr 25min.]