When China’s fourth human spaceflight blasts off on June 16, it will mark more than the country’s latest crewed space mission. The Shenzhou 9 space docking mission will launch China’s first woman astronaut into orbit and ferry the first crew to a space station prototype.

Liu Yang, age 34, is China’s first female astronaut. She and two colleagues form the crew of the Shenzhou 9 mission, with liftoff set for 6:37 p.m. local time (6:37 a.m. EDT or 1037 GMT) on June 16, 2012.

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