China's First Female Astronaut Blasts Off

Liu Yang is part of first manned docking at space lab
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 16, 2012 6:27 AM CDT
China's First Female Astronaut Blasts Off
China's first female astronaut, Liu Yang, waves during a press conference.   (Getty Images)

China's space program hit two milestones today, one of the cultural variety. On the latter, its first female astronaut blasted into space, reports the BBC. Liu Yang, 33, is one of three astronauts who lifted off aboard the Shenzhou-9 capsule to spend a week in orbit at China's Tiangong space lab. Liu, a fighter pilot, will run the science experiments. As for the other milestone, this is China's first manned docking at the space lab. (More China stories.)

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