Article Posted on : - May 10, 2010

Artist sketch of Shenzhou 5

BEIJING (BNS): China has recently recruited seven new astronauts, including two women for the first time, the General Armament Department of Chinese People's Liberation Army has said.

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, the training courses will soon start for the new recruits who are aged between 30 to 35 years of age.

The five men were previously fighter pilots and the women were transport plane pilots. Their average flight time is 1,270.7 hours.

They all have excellent skills with good psychological qualities and are qualified both in clinical and space medicine, the General Armament Department said.

"China is expected to test its docking technology in the next few years and the seven new astronauts are selected for these new tasks,” the news agency quoting Chen Shanguang, director of the Astronaut Center of China said.

China is expected to launch an unmanned space module - Tiangong 1 - in the first half of 2011.

China began to select astronauts for its space program in 1998. In 2003, China sent its first astronaut Yang Liwei into outer space in the Chinese made spacecraft Shenzhou-5.

The Shenzhou 8 spacecraft will be launched in the second half of 2011 to carry out the nation's first space docking, followed by the Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10, which will be launched in 2012 to dock with Tiangong 1, media reports said.