China’s space vessel Shenzhou 9 returned to Earth last Friday after a successful 13-day mission which included a rendezvous with the orbiting Tiangong 1 (“Heavenly Palace 1”) space lab module. The crew of three included China’s first woman “taikonaut,” Major Liu Yang (sorry fellas, she’s married). Major Liu is a seasoned fighter pilot in the People’s Liberation Army Air Force.
Most press coverage of Major Liu ‘s space voyage has been postive, even adulatory, but there are always a few envious, malicious haters who have to go and spoil everything. After all, that’s what Twitter is for, right? Actually, in China they tweet about Liu Yang on Sina Weibo:
“China is the only country that is capable of sending a female taikonaut into orbit while at the same time being able to force a seven months pregnant woman to have an abortion.”
Ouch.
More:
“Popular Backlash In China After Hoopla For First Woman Astronaut,” Central News Agency (Taiwan) via Worldcrunch
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Image (“Flight of the Shenzhou 9”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
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Tags: China, female astronauts, Liu Yang, manned space flight, outer space, Shenzhou 9, space, taikonauts, women, women in space
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