According to a recent comment from Yang Liwei (China’s first astronaut), the Chinese government is currently selecting China’s first female astronaut. The selected female astronaut is expected to join a space exploration in 2012. The potential female astronauts would be recruited from 16 female fighter pilots in the Chinese Air Force. These 16 female pilots were selected from 150,000 high school graduates in 12 provinces. The selected female astronaut (including the back up members) are expected to undergo between two and three years of training.
Up to today, the Soviet Union, the United States, Japan, the Republic of Korea and Europe have all sent women into space. The world’s first female astronaut, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, who boarded the Soviet Union’s Vostok 6 in June 1963, stayed in space for three full days.