Russia to send woman to space in 2014
2013-03-06 20:24
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Moscow - Russia will send a female cosmonaut into space for
the first time in two decades next year, an official at the space training
centre said on Wednesday.
Yelena Serova, 36, a professional cosmonaut, "is
getting ready for a space flight in the second half of 2014”, said Alexei
Temerov, an official at Russia's Star City space training centre.
Russia will this year celebrate the 50th anniversary of
the first woman's trip to space.
The feat was accomplished by Valentina Tereshkova on 16
June 1963, and was followed by that of another Soviet cosmonaut, Svetlana
Savitskaya, who became the first woman to do a space walk.
But while Nasa regularly sends female astronauts to work
at the International Space Station (ISS), there has been only one Russian woman
to fly to space since the early 1980s, Yelena Kondakova.
Kondakova spent five months in space on the since-retired
Mir station in 1994-1995.
She also travelled aboard the US Space Shuttle in 1997.
Yelena Serova will spend six months at the ISS, Temerov
said.
"Her work programme at the ISS will not be anything
extraordinary. It will be the usual research programme. A space walk is not
planned," he added.
A second woman currently in training, 28-year-old Anna
Kikina, has joined the cosmonaut programme after becoming one of eight people
selected in last year's recruitment drive.
- SAPA
