Largest orbital gathering of female astronauts in history

Image provided by NASA taken on April 9, 2010 shows three female astronauts and one male astronaut at the International Space Station. The shuttle Discovery linked up to the International Space Station early Wednesday, April 7, 2010, bringing 13 people together on two different spaceships – including the largest orbital gathering of female astronauts in history

Image provided by NASA taken on April 7, 2010 shows Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Naoko Yamazaki (R) and mission specialist Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger (L) at the International Space Station. The shuttle Discovery linked up to the International Space Station early Wednesday, April 7, 2010, bringing 13 people together on two different spaceships – including the largest orbital gathering of female astronauts in history.




BEIJING, April 11 (Xinhuanet) -- The shuttle Discovery linked up to the International Space Station on early Wednesday, bringing three female crew members, along with the woman already on the ISS, making the largest number of women in orbit ever.

Discovery lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida at 6:21 am (1021 GMT) as scheduled. It brought three female astronauts: mission specialists Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger, 34, a former high school science teacher; Stephanie Wilson, 43, a veteran of two shuttle missions; and Naoko Yamazaki, 39, an astronaut with the Japanese space agency since 1996. Along with the woman already on the ISS -- NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson -- the mission marks a first in space: four women in orbit at the same time.

(Agencies)

Photo:Xinhua/Reuters
Editor: Fang Yang
Original title: Largest number of women in orbit everXinhuanet.com