Kina

Seven Chinese astronauts, including, for the first time, two females, have been shortlisted for the country's ambitious space program that aims to build a manned station in orbit, Saturday's Hong Kong newspaper Wenweipo reported, citing anonymous military sources on the sidelines of the annual session of the nation's top legislature in Beijing.
The seven top-flight pilots were cherry picked from 45 candidates of air force's ace pilots, 30 male and 15 female, who, in three batches, went through a head-to-toe physical examination as well as psychological tests, the newspaper said.
Citing confidentiality rules, the unnamed high-ranking official didn't disclose the names of the seven astronauts./källa: China Daily------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Från tidigare China Daily: China plans to launch an unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, which is expected to accomplish the country's first space docking, next year, an expert said on Wednesday.
Tiangong, which means Heavenly Palace, would finally be transformed into a manned space lab after experimental dockings with three Shenzhou spacecraft, expected to be put into space within two years following the module's launch, Qi Faren, former chief designer of Shenzhou spaceships and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said on Wednesday.
A spokesman of China's space program said in February last year that the country had planned to launch the unmanned module into orbit as early as the end of 2010. Qi said the delay was due to technical reasons.
Weighing about 8.5 tons, Tiangong-1 is able to perform long-term unattended operations, an essential step toward building a space station.