China sends first woman into space

Published on 16/06/2012 00:00

China will send its first woman into space today, along with two other astronauts, to work on a temporary space station, in a key step toward becoming only the third nation to set up a permanent base in orbit.

Liu Yang, a 34-year-old air force pilot, and two male colleagues will be launched aboard the Shenzhou 9, which will dock with the Tiangong 1 space module now orbiting 213 miles above Earth.