\tAs a member of the crew for China's latest space docking mission, Liu Yang became the country's first female astronaut entering space when Shenzhou-9 blasted into space atop a Long March-2F rocket on Saturday evening.<\/p>\n
\tHer presence in the ship, however, required a set of adjustments to China's space program to meet the needs of a woman.<\/p>\n
\tNEW SPACESUITS FOR LADIES<\/strong><\/p>\n \t"We developed a new series of spacesuits for female astronauts", said Li Tanqiu, deputy chief designer of the astronaut system department.<\/p>\n \tLi said the new suit fits well and will enable swift movements, especially of the fingers.<\/p>\n \tBesides spacesuits, astronauts also brought special underwear and sports suits, according to Li.<\/p>\n \tIn addition, two sets of physical exercise training suits had already been placed in Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1, the space lab module launched last September with which Shenzhou-9 is supposed to dock in the next few days.<\/p>\n \tThere is also a curtain installed in Tiangong-1 to protect astronauts' privacy when they are changing clothes, said Li.<\/p>\n \tMORE VEG<\/strong><\/p>\n \t"Astronauts rely on good food to focus on work," said Chen Shanguang, general director of the astronaut system department.<\/p>\n \tFor female astronauts, Chen's fellow crew had introduced low-fat food and added more vegetables to the menu, which also features desserts, chocolate and food with blood-enriching effects.<\/p>\n \tFor this 13-day mission, the spaceship is stocked with over 50 kinds of food and different menus will rotate every four days, added Chen.<\/p>\n \tChen also believes the food for China's space program should take full advantage of the country's traditional cooking.<\/p>\n \tFLEXIBILITY IN TIME<\/strong><\/p>\n \tAnother notable change is the enhanced flexibility in the crew's time management mechanism during this mission.<\/p>\n \tPreviously, the schedule was detailed to each minute, while astronauts can this time adjust the arrangements in accordance with their own conditions and routines of their bodies.<\/p>\n \tMedical officer Gai Yuqing said the ground headquarters will monitor astronauts' daily routines and remind them of the proper sleeping hours following Beijing time.<\/p>\n \t"If too much work starts to deprive their sleeping hours, we will instruct them to give up some of the tasks to ensure enough sleep", said Gai.<\/p>\n \tGAMES & EXPERIMENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n \tBesides hard work, astronauts were also advised to have fun during the mission.<\/p>\n \tThey can use a video link to chat with the ground and their family members within each bedroom, said Chen, adding that designers had planted many "surprises" inside the lab.<\/p>\n \t"Discovering unexpected items by themselves could add more fun to living in space", said Chen Shanguang.<\/p>\n \tAccording to the general director, these treasure-hunting games will also be recorded to analyze people's ability in solving puzzles in gravity-free conditions.<\/p>\n \tNew words:
\t\u5b87\u822a\u670dy\u01d4 háng fú\uff1aspacesuit
\t\u4efb\u52a1rèn wù \uff1amission
\t\u7075\u6d3b\u6027líng huó xìng\uff1aflexibility
\t\u6e38\u620fyóu xì\uff1agame
\t\u5b9e\u9a8cshí yàn\uff1aexperiment
\t\u83dc\u5f0fcài shì\uff1a cuisine<\/p>\n