China plans to launch female taikonaut

http://www1.chinadaily.com.cn/englis...ent_312550.htm


China to send woman into space
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2004-03-07 17:18

After putting a man in space for the first time in October last year,
China plans to train female astronauts for space voyages, the
country's largest women's organization confirmed in Beijing Sunday.

"China will soon start to train its own female astronauts," Gu
Xiulian, president of the All-China Women's Federation (ACWF),
announced at an awarding ceremony for the country's female model
judges Saturday afternoon in Beijing, just days before the "March 8"
International Women's Day.

While officials in charge of China's manned spaceflight program were
yet to be reached for confirmation, high-ranking sources with the ACWF
confirmed Gu's announcement.

"Following the country's first successful manned spaceflight last
year, I put forward the suggestion that women should also be trained
for space travel, and this suggestion has been accepted by the central
authorities," Gu, also vice chairwoman of the Standing Committee of
the National People's Congress, the Chinese parliament, added.

China joined Russia and the United States in the elite club of manned
spaceflight last October as the homemade Shenzhou-5 spacecraft,
piloted by Yang Liwei, a former fighter pilot of the People's
Liberation Army (PLA) air force, orbited Earth 14 times and returned
safely.

When I see it...
China needs to get further along in the business of safe, regular launches,
with qualified pilots, before it starts filling egalitarian, politically
sensitive roles. They may have skipped most of the steps in Mercury and
Gemini, Vostok and Voshkod, but they are far from experienced spacefarers.
That is not to say that qualified women can't handle the role as
Taikonaut. I merely wish to point out that because they have had a single
successful orbital mission, and a very good one at that, they are not able
to start filling political goals with this program.

Ken Arromdee wrote:

Something I've always wondered (well, not *always*, but for a while): Why
do we call foreign astronauts "cosmonaut", "taikonaut", etc.? Are space
travellers supposed to be like collections of animals, where you call it a
flock, herd, murder, swarm, or whatever depending on the exact type of
animal? And we don't call Japanese cars by the Japanese word for "car", and
we certainly don't refer to Chinese rockets by a word which means "rocket" in
Chinese, so why do we call Chinese astronauts by the Chinese word for
"astronaut"?


Actually "Taikonaut" isn't the term that's used for them in China; there
they are called "Yuhangyuan"..."Taikonaut" was a translation of
"Astronaut" into Chinese by someone who could speak Chinese, but (at
least for the moment) it has caught on quite widely.
Somewhat the same thing happened during W.W. II when Japanese Americans
christened the Japanese rocket-powered "Ohka "(Cherry Blossom) suicide
aircraft the "Baka" (Fool) in derision.
I would comment more on this phenomena, but frankly I must now chase off
the flotilla of bats that are schooling under the bonnet of my car with
a spanner, lest any of them attempt to form a squadron in the
automobile's boot. :-)
Pat

When I see it...

I'd agree it's a big step from a statment like this to actually
delivering a flight, and it will be interesting to see if any
confirmation comes from the Chinese space community in the weeks
ahead.


China needs to get further along in the business of safe, regular launches,
with qualified pilots, before it starts filling egalitarian, politically
sensitive roles.

They seem to be moving at a different pace altogether to the early USA
and USSR programmes, and they obviously have the benefit of other
countries' experience. It also depends what you call 'safe, regular
launches'.


That is not to say that qualified women can't handle the role as
Taikonaut. I merely wish to point out that because they have had a single
successful orbital mission, and a very good one at that, they are not able
to start filling political goals with this program.

China does have significant numbers of female military pilots,
including a few who fly supersonic jets such as the SU-27, so they
could form a selection pool and would, on the face of it, seem
qualified for the task. I don't think we're talking about a Tereshkova
style solo flight here - although that would catch the world's
attention - more likely the third seat on an early three person
mission.

Time will tell, but I hope the story does bear fruit as it will add
further interest to tracking the Chinese programme.

On Tue, 09 Mar 2004 01:16:43 -0600, Pat Flannery wrote:

I would comment more on this phenomena, but frankly I must now chase off
the flotilla of bats that are schooling under the bonnet of my car with
a spanner, lest any of them attempt to form a squadron in the
automobile's boot. :-)

I thought they were confined to your belfry

Dale

Or, would that be "taikonette"? (;^

--
"All over, people changing their votes,
along with their overcoats;
if Adolf Hitler flew in today,
they'd send a limousine anyway!" --the clash.
__________________________________________________ _________________
Mike Flugennock, flugennock at sinkers dot org
Mike Flugennock's Mikey'zine, dubya dubya dubya dot sinkers dot org

In article , (Ken
Arromdee) wrote:

In article ,
Jorge R. Frank wrote:
It is not a matter of *us* wanting to coin terms to describe space
travellers from other countries - we'd be perfectly happy calling all of
them "astronauts". It is more a matter of each spacefaring country wanting
to coin its own term to describe its own travellers.

Well, why should we listen to them? I can understand proper names (Beijing
instead of Peking, for instance), but if the Chinese suddenly decided that
we should use the Chinese word for "rocket" to describe Chinese rockets,
would everyone start doing so?

As a matter for fact, Chinese hate the term "taikonaut". They prefer the
old plain "astronaut". BTW, I am a native Chinese.

--
Tao Tong

Tao Tong wrote:
In article , (Ken
Arromdee) wrote:

In article ,
Jorge R. Frank wrote:
It is not a matter of *us* wanting to coin terms to describe space
travellers from other countries - we'd be perfectly happy calling all of

Well, why should we listen to them? I can understand proper names (Beijing
instead of Peking, for instance), but if the Chinese suddenly decided that
we should use the Chinese word for "rocket" to describe Chinese rockets,
would everyone start doing so?

As a matter for fact, Chinese hate the term "taikonaut". They prefer the
old plain "astronaut". BTW, I am a native Chinese.

Would you say the same is true of non english speakers?
Is astronaut the generally used term?

Ian Stirling wrote in message .. .
As a matter for fact, Chinese hate the term "taikonaut". They prefer the
old plain "astronaut". BTW, I am a native Chinese.

Would you say the same is true of non english speakers?
Is astronaut the generally used term?

I believe they prefer the term "Yuhangyuan", which means
something like "space travel worker" (as opposed to
"star/cosmos sailor" for astronaut/cosmonaut).

"Tao Tong" wrote in message
...
In article , (Ken
Arromdee) wrote:

In article ,
Jorge R. Frank wrote:
It is not a matter of *us* wanting to coin terms to describe space
travellers from other countries - we'd be perfectly happy calling all of
them "astronauts". It is more a matter of each spacefaring country
wanting
to coin its own term to describe its own travellers.

Well, why should we listen to them? I can understand proper names
(Beijing
instead of Peking, for instance), but if the Chinese suddenly decided
that
we should use the Chinese word for "rocket" to describe Chinese rockets,
would everyone start doing so?

As a matter for fact, Chinese hate the term "taikonaut". They prefer the
old plain "astronaut". BTW, I am a native Chinese.

So was I believe the person who coined taikonaut.

And the agency has apparently claimed preference for yet another word.

So, no offense Tao, I'm not sure you can speak for ALL Chinese. :-)

Heck, there are some Americans who would prefer to simply use the terms
pilot and passengers.



--
Tao Tong