After her 2013 flight, Wang Yaping, a Chinese astronaut, spoke at an event in 2017. She may be the first woman to visit China’s new space station.
One of China's few female astronauts will be among the crew on the Shenzhou 13 mission towards the Chinese space station.
After 90 days onboard the Tianhe module, the Tiangong space station, Shenzhou 12, the three-member crew of Shenzhou 12 have just returned to Earth. But China is already gearing for its next orbital outpost. On Monday, September 20, the Tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft carried nearly 13,000 lbs. It docked with Tianhe. The next crew will launch on Shenzhou 13, carrying approximately 6,000 kg of supplies, from Jiuquan in Gobi Desert.
Although the official announcement of the crew has not yet been made, Chinese media openly discuss the possibility of including a female astronaut.
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This assumption seems to be well-founded. Zhai Zhigang and Wang Yaping were the backup crew on the Shenzhou 12 mission that sent Nie Haisheng and Liu Boming to orbit.
Zhai flew back to 2008, when he was a commander on the Shenzhou 7 missions. Ye is yet to fly but he was part of the European Space Agency's Cooperative Adventure for Vale and Exercising Human Behaviors and Performance Skills (CAVES astronaut training program) in July 2016. He was notably joined by NASA astronauts.
Wang Yaping became the second Chinese woman to be in space on Shenzhou 10, which visited Tiangong 1 a space laboratory that was built as a testbed and development platform for the larger Tianhe module. Wang gave a lecture to children in orbit during the mission.
Wang was part the Shenzhou 9 backup crew; this backup team got the go ahead for Shenzhou 10. Wang was also known to be in training for the space station missions earlier in the year.
Wang, if she is confirmed for Shenzhou 13, would be the first woman to visit China's Space Station. Given China's predominantly male astronaut corps, Wang's participation would be notable. Only two out of the 12 Chinese astronauts who have reached space have been women. Wang's first space flight was in 2012 by Liu Yang aboard Shenzhou 9, a year after Wang's.
This situation will likely become more male-dominated. China held a new round of astronaut selection in 2020. It was the first time that applications were opened for both air force pilots and astronauts. Only one of the 18 trainees selected was a woman.
