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.

Shandong Gets an Upper Hand

Nevertheless, according to Wenweipo, five of the vetted 15 female candidates -- Wang Yaping, Xing Lei, Liu Lu, Cao Yanyan and Sun Jing -- are from east China's Shandong, giving the costal province an upper hand to be crowned as the hometown of the country's first female astronaut.

Wang Yaping piloted the aircraft for earthquake relief efforts in southwest China in 2008 as well as that year's weather modification in Beijing for the Olympics. Cao Yanyan comes from a flying family, whose husband and grandmother are both excellent pilots.

Vetting: Married Mother Only

The vetting process for the country's future astronauts is a demanding search for "the perfect human", said Xu Xianrong, a doctor with top-rated Air Force General Hospital who participated in the selection process,on a November aerospace clinical symposium in Beijing.

For example, since astronauts in flight must adjust to weightlessness, pilots are preferred if equipped with better vestibular system, a tiny part of the auditory system located in the inner ear which contributes to the bodily functions of balance and equilibrium, Xu said to Xinhua.

"Of course, requirements are different for spacecraft drivers and communicators," he added.

As for the married-mother-only criteria for female astronauts, Xu explained "it's out of the consideration of being responsible for the lady pilots."

"Though there is little evidence on how the space experience will affect the female constitution, we have to be extra cautious. After all, it's unprecedented in China," he said.

China's Space Extravaganza

Ever since China catapulted its first astronaut Yang Liwei into space on October 15, 2003, a rare feat on its own that only the United States and the former Soviet Union are capable of, the country has been enamored in advancing its space expeditions.

The Chinese astronaut league was joined by Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng after they successfully blasted into space on October 12, 2005. Three years later, on September 27, 2008, Zhai Zhigang stunned the nation with a live-broadcast space walking, assisted by peer astronauts Liu Boming and Jing Haipeng.

China is expected to launch an unmanned space module, Tiangong-1, in 2011 and conduct three space docking experiments in the following two years, as an essential step toward building a space station, aerospace technologist Qi Faren said to Wenweipo.

The two shortlisted female astronauts are likely to participate in the space extravaganza, the newspaper said.

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