中国的太空项目:女性头一回

THE Soviets waited until their sixth crewed mission, but then did not do it again for 43. The Americans waited until their 38th, but after that it became routine. The Chinese have done it on their fourth. Launched a woman into space, that is. At 18.37 on June 16th Liu Yang (pictured) and her colleagues Liu Wang and Jing Haipeng blasted off from Jiuquan spaceport in Gansu, in a craft called Shenzhou-9, with the intention of rendezvousing with, and then docking with Tiangong-1, an unmanned module launched in 2011. Whether Major Liu's flight is mere propaganda or the beginning of equality between the sexes in the Chinese space programme will become evident from the crews of future missions.

在将女性发射到太空这件事上，苏联人是第6次载人太空行动时才开始，但第43次才再次搭载女性；而美国人虽然是从第38次太空行动时才开始，但从那以后这便成为一个惯例。中国人第4次太空行动时就开始搭载女性了。6月16日，刘洋（如图）与她的同事刘旺和景海鹏乘坐“神舟”九号飞船从甘肃酒泉太空中心发射升空，他们的目的是要与2011年发射升空的无人太空舱“天宫”一号会和并实现对接。刘洋少校这次飞行是一次纯粹的宣传还是说中国太空项目正在实现男女平等，从以后执行任务的的宇航员性别来看一目了然。

This mission, however, is intended as a step towards building a Chinese orbiting space station. American disfavour prevented Chinese involvement in the allegedly international station currently orbiting Earth, so CNSA, China's space agency, has decided to construct its own. On June 18th, if all goes well, the two craft will dock automatically. That done, they will later undock and attempt to re-dock under manual control. Then, after 13 days in space, Shenzhou will return to Earth.

不过这次任务是计划建立中国轨道空间站的一步。不喜欢中国搞航天的美国阻挠中国参与据称当前围绕地球运转的国际太空站。于是中国国家航天局（中国太空机构）决定自己建一个。6月18日，如果一切顺利，“神舟”九号与“天宫”一号将自动对接。这一步完成之后，他们还将手动操作分离与再次对接。然后，在太空飞行13天后，“神舟”将返回地球。

Tiangong-1 is not intended to be part of the eventual space station. It will be taken out of orbit next year and replaced with a larger module. Unlike the gung-ho days of the Soviet/American space race, China's manned space programme is proceeding with cautious deliberation. Four missions in four years is not exactly boldly going where no man (or woman) has gone before. This slow and steady approach might, however, win the space race's undeclared re-run, to return human beings to the moon. Russia has no contemplated system for doing so, and America's is, to put it politely, a paper spacecraft. As in most things, the Chinese government is playing its cards close to its chest. But do not be surprised if the next human to walk on the moon is Chinese. And female.

“天宫”一号并没有被设计用作最终空间站的一部分。明年，“天宫”一号即将退出轨道运行，由一个更大的太空舱取代。与那狂热的苏美太空竞赛岁月不同，中国的载人航天项目慎之又慎。4年完成4次任务，并非很冒险地去了一些之前没有男人（或女人）去过的地方。不过这种稳扎稳打或许是秘而不宣地将人类送往月球的再次竞赛。俄罗斯并没有预期的体制来做这些；文雅地说，美国的宇宙飞船还在纸面上。所以，只有中国政府守口如瓶。但是，当下一个行走在月亮上的人类是中国人——中国女人时，别太吃惊了。