BEIJING, Nov 20 — Chinese women aspiring to be the country’s first female astronauts must be married and have children, state media reported.
“There is currently no information on the biological effects of space life on women, so we should be more cautious as this is the first time for China,” Professor Xu Xianrong, director of the Clinical Aerospace Medicine Centre of the People’s Liberation Army Air Force General Hospital, told an international aviation seminar in Beijing this week.
Xu also said that women over the age of 25 are more mature physically and mentally. That is one reason why, contrary to previous media reports, the country’s first batch of female fighter jet pilots has been left out of the selection process for spacewomen. The average age of the female fighter pilots, who made their debut at the National Day parade on Oct 1, is 23.
China has finished its preliminary selection for a new batch of astronauts, comprising 15 women and 30 men, who will participate in a training programme a year after the nation completed its first spacewalk. Eventually, five men and two women will be selected to take part in three more manned missions planned before 2012, the Global Times reported. The missions are to prepare for docking tasks required for constructing a space station.
In total, 49 female astronauts from across the world have performed tasks in space. Among them, 40 were from the United States, said one expert.
In 1998, China selected 14 pilots as its first batch of astronauts. In 2003, China successfully sent its first astronaut Yang Liwei into space, and also became the first Asian nation to do so. — Xinhua
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Quite apart from the obvious "same as for men", China's predecessors in space have all sent lots of women into space. I'd like to 'do my bit' for China, so its poor benighted officials don't have to say things in public that are apparently false, and direct them to the Wikipedia category for Female Astronauts:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Female_astronauts
It should also be noted by anyone tempted to make foolish comments about "women in space" that NASA's most experienced astronaut at this time - Peggy Whitson - IS A WOMAN.