China hiring civilians to send them to space

NewsBharati    06-Mar-2018
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Beijing, March 6: With an aim to boost the frequency of manned space missions, China is aggressively hiring civilians for the space programmes. They will be not only pilots, but also maintenance engineers and payload specialists for the space station project.

Yang Liwei, the first Chinese to go to space and deputy general of China's space agency, said that its third batch of astronauts will comprise recruits from industry, research institutions and universities. China is also planning to land a probe on the far side of the moon. 

To build and operate its space station, China plans to increase manned space missions from once in every one to three years to at least twice a year, which require more taikonauts, said Yang.

Currently, taikonauts a blend of the Chinese word taikong which means outer space and astronaut are all former Air Force pilots, Xinhua news agency reported.

The core module and a new carrier rocket for the space station project were also being developed, he said.

China initiated the manned space programme in 1992 and successfully sent Yang into orbit with the Shenzhou-5 spacecraft in 2003.

Earlier, China selected 14 astronauts, yuhangyuan in the late 1990s and seven in 2010, including two women. Eleven have been sent on six missions.