China’s First Female Astronaut Shows How “Women Hold Up Half the Sky”

Tania Branigan

1 The famous Chinese maxim has it that women hold up half the sky. Thanks to Liu Yang, they have now soared past it. 

2 On Saturday a Shenzhou-9 spacecraft blasted off carrying the first Chinese woman into space from its Gobi desert launch site — Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in Gansu province. 

3 Liu Yang becomes the first Chinese woman in space in a step towards the country’s ambition to build its own space station. 

4 “I am grateful to the motherland and the people. I feel honoured to fly into space on behalf of hundreds of millions of female Chinese citizens,” Liu told reporters before take-off. Speaking alongside her two male colleagues, she said: “Men and women have their own advantages and capabilities in carrying out space missions. They can complement each other and better complete their mission.” 

5 The launch is the latest step in China’s ambitious programme to build its own space station. American objections prevented it from participating in the international space station. Shenzhou-9 will perform China’s first staffed docking mission with an orbiting space laboratory module. Two astronauts will live and work inside the Tiangong-1 to test its life-support systems, while the third will remain in the Shenzhou-9 capsule. 

6 Space programme spokeswoman Wu Ping said: “Generally speaking, female astronauts have better durability, psychological stability and ability to deal with loneliness.” 

7 Liu’s selection for the mission caused a surge of pride in her home province of Henan. But as a child, Ms Liu considered different careers. Xinhua said she first wanted to become “a lawyer like the ones in television series”. Then, it added, “the first time she sat on a bus with her mother, she also thought becoming a bus conductor would be great, as she could ride the bus every day”. However, instead she joined the air force. She began training as an astronaut only two years ago, giving her much less experience than her colleagues. 

8 In an interview with China’s CCTV, she said she felt “very guilty” that she had not been able to spend time with her family during intense training for the missions. “He has been very supportive of me,” Ms Liu said of her husband. “I am very thankful to him.” 

9 Liu will carry out medical experiments while the third astronaut will handle docking manoeuvres. 

中国首位女宇航员展示妇女如何“撑起半边天”

塔尼亚·布兰尼根

1中国有句格言，妇女撑起半边天。因为有了刘洋，她们现在飞过了天。

2周六，在戈壁滩发射基地——甘肃省酒泉卫星发射中心，神舟九号飞船载着中国第一位女宇航员升空。

3刘洋成为中国在建立自己的太空站的宏伟计划中第一位进入太空的女性。

4“我感谢祖国和人民。能代表数亿中国妇女飞向太空，我感到光荣，”刘洋在起飞前告诉记者。在与她的两名男同事一起发言时，她说：“男性和女性在执行航天任务时各有优势和才干。他们可以互相补充，更好地完成任务。”

5这次发射是中国建立自己的航天站的宏伟计划中的最新行动。由于美国的反对，中国不能参加国际空间站。神舟九号将完成中国首次载人宇宙飞船与绕轨道运行的太空实验舱的交会对接。两名宇航员将在天宫一号中生活和工作，测试其生命保障系统，而第三名宇航员则留在神舟九号的太空舱内。

6航天计划发言人武平女士说：“一般说来，女航天员耐力、心理稳定性和抗寂寞能力都更强。”

7刘被选中执行这次任务，使她家乡河南省无比骄傲。但是，在孩童时代，刘洋曾考虑从事别的职业。新华社说她最初想当“电视连续剧里的那种律师”。但是接着又说，“第一次与妈妈一起坐公交车时，她也想过，当一名售票员很不错，她可以每天坐车”。然而，她却加入了空军。她两年前才开始航天训练，比她的同事们经验少得多。

8在央视的一次采访中，她说在为执行航天任务而进行强化训练期间，她不能与家人在一起，感到“很愧疚”。关于她丈夫，她说“他对我很支持，我很感激他。”

9刘的任务是做医学实验，而第三名航天员将完成对接动作。