News Desk: For the first time China is sending a Woman astronaut to the space with the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft today. Major Liu Yang, a 33-year-old fighter pilot will join two other male astronauts aboard Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang for the mission.

 

The team will attempt a manned docking for the first time with the Tiangong (the Lab of China in the space) launched last September. The spacecraft will be blasted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China at 18:37 local time.

 

Liu is extremely excited for the voyage who says that she wants to experience the fantastic environment in the space and watch the beautiful Earth and her homeland from the space. She thanks her country which put confidence on her to provide a chance to go into the space.

 

Medical experts who selected the team have reportedly informed that a female astronaut also needs to meet the same criteria as men. Further, she should be married and preferably be a mother as radiation in the space may harm her fertility.

 

In an earlier occasion Liu had been praised as she could manage to land her fighter jet despite a bird strike left the cockpit glass covered with blood.

 

Liu is from Henan and the message of her space journey has become the top topic for discussion in China.

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