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Michael Zey
futurist3000@aol.com

.c The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) - Mao Zedong once said women ``hold up half the sky.'' Now China wants to send them up there in its spaceships.

Chinese women will be recruited as potential astronauts for space voyages starting next year, with candidates chosen from mainland China as well as its territories Hong Kong and Macau, the government said Friday.

``Our selection of woman astronauts will not merely be a symbolic, image project,'' said Hu Shixiang, deputy chief commander of China's manned space program, was quoted as saying by the official Xinhua News Agency. China has recruited female air force pilots since 1951.

Gu Xiulian, chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation, was quoted Saturday as saying she had proposed the training of female astronauts after China's first manned space mission last year.

Hu's announcement comes five months after astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth aboard the Shenzhou 5 spacecraft on Oct. 15-16. He returned to a hero's welcome and an immediate pledge by the Chinese government to fast-track its space program.

Another mission, Shenzhou 6, is set for next year and will probably include more than a single astronaut, the government says.

Hu said China's space technology has matured and helped lower the stringent physical requirements for space travel, allowing more leeway in choosing astronauts.

``Healthy common people can become astronauts for space missions after specialized training thanks to China's improved space training skills, and, women, of course, will be included,'' he said.

The first group of female astronauts will be trained for three or four years, Xinhua said. They will then travel into space ``when the time is mature,'' according to Hu, who gave no specific schedule.



03/12/04 22:05 EST
   

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