In the history of human spaceflight, the early manned space missions were mainly completed by male astronauts, one of the reasons is that the risk factor of manned spaceflight is very high, and the requirements for astronauts' physical fitness are also very high. So far, female astronauts have become an indispensable member of the astronaut team, and there are female astronauts in many flight missions.
The mainland's space station has been in orbit for more than three years, and seven groups of astronauts have already carried out missions in China's space station, and the Shenzhou-18 astronaut crew is currently flying on China's space station. In the previous missions, female astronauts participated in the Shenzhou 13 and Shenzhou 14 missions.
In the first, second, and third batches of active astronauts, there are only three female astronauts, namely Liu Yang and Wang Yaping, and a female astronaut from the third batch who has not yet made an official public appearance. Now that the fourth batch of astronauts has also been selected, it is said that there may be at least one female astronaut.
The fourth group of astronauts came
Although we have had 3 batches of active astronauts before, the first batch of astronauts is relatively old, and now our space station has entered the stage of application and development, 2 manned missions will be carried out every year, and 6 astronauts are needed to go to space every year, and after returning to Earth from a half-year mission on the Chinese space station, it takes a long time for the astronauts to recover, so they will not go to space again in a short time after returning. So, we need to expand the astronaut corps.
In the second half of 2022, we launched the selection of the fourth batch of reserve astronauts for the mainland manned space project, which is the first time that payload experts have been selected in Hong Kong and Macao. After more than one year of selection, a total of 10 reserve astronauts were finally selected after three stages: primary, secondary and final, including 8 astronauts and 2 payload experts (1 payload expert from Hong Kong and 1 payload expert from Macao).
Next, these astronauts will enter the China Astronaut Research and Training Center to receive comprehensive and systematic training. Although the selection of the fourth batch of astronauts has been completed, the official has not yet announced the specific details, so we are not sure how many male and female astronauts are in the fourth batch of astronauts.
However, before the official announcement of the completion of the selection of the fourth batch of astronauts, there were many media reports that a Hong Kong policewoman had been selected to join the astronaut selection program. As early as last year, the policewoman had already gone to Beijing to receive relevant training and have astronaut qualifications.
If that were the case, she would be the fourth female astronaut. However, the details of the fourth batch of astronauts have not been officially announced, so it is uncertain whether this is the case, and it is not certain whether there will be more female astronauts in the fourth batch of astronauts.
No birth after returning?
Previously, the official had said that in the selection of female astronauts, priority would be given to those who are married and have children, and the proportion of female astronauts in the astronaut team is very small, so many netizens believe that it is dangerous to carry out space missions, and in the space environment, astronauts may have genetic mutations and other situations, which may affect fertility, so they believe that female astronauts will be banned from giving birth after returning from the mission. Is this true?
In the selection of female astronauts, it is true that priority will be given to those who are married and have children, but this is not to say that the astronauts' fertility will be affected when performing missions in outer space. The reason is simple, that is, astronauts train for a long time, and they usually need to train for several years.
If the astronaut team is selected, the female astronaut will not have time to have children, and may miss the best time to give birth. Therefore, it is preferential to select those female astronauts who are married and have children, but this is not absolute, just that it is preferred. Moreover, we do not explicitly stipulate that astronauts cannot have children after returning from space.
Tereshkova of the former Soviet Union was the world's first female cosmonaut on a space mission, and she did not give birth when she carried out the first manned mission, and she was not banned from giving birth after returning to Earth.
Liu Yang is the first female astronaut in the mainland to carry out a space mission, and when she was carrying out the Shenzhou 9 mission, she had not yet given birth, and after returning from the mission, Liu Yang could still give birth. In 2014, Liu Yang revealed that he became a mother.
Therefore, the world's first female astronaut to enter space to carry out a flight mission, and the first female astronaut to enter space to perform a flight mission in the mainland all appeared to break the rumors. The so-called prohibition of childbirth after a space mission is not true.
How to protect privacy inside the space station
This is also a topic that many netizens are concerned about, after all, the space in the space station is very limited, and living and working in such a small space station for a few months, astronauts will face a series of problems, including various difficulties in working in a weightless state. During the mission, male and female astronauts live and work in the small space station, will there be a problem of privacy exposure?
In fact, there is no need to worry, in the design and manufacturing, the staff has taken these problems into account, and there will definitely be a solution. For example, our space station has 6 sleeping areas, 3 of which are distributed in the Tianhe core module and 3 are distributed in the Wentian experimental module. In addition, there are two sanitary areas in the space station, one in the Tianhe core module and one in the Wentian experimental module.
Our space station has enough sleeping areas for astronauts to rest and enough sanitary areas for astronauts to use. Under such circumstances, how can there be privacy exposure in the space station?