China’s first female astronaut returns from space
After nearly two weeks on the job, three Chinese astronauts, including Liu Yang, the country’s first female in space, returned to Earth on Friday, capping off China’s longest and most complex space mission, the Associated Press reported.
The highlight of Shenzhou-9’s mission was the three-person crew’s successful docking with the Tiangong-1 orbiting module, a move the AFP characterized as “essential to the process of building a space station.” Tiangong-1 is the foundation for China’s future space station, slated to be ready by 2020.
“Tiangong is our home in space. It’s warm and cozy,” Liu Yang said, shortly after landing. “We are proud of our motherland.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/chinas-first-female-astronaut-returns-from-space/2012/06/29/gJQAEJHfBW_blog.html
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Official English-language texts issued by the government of the People's Republic of China use astronaut while texts in Russian use космонавт (kosmonavt).[20][21] In official Chinese-language texts, the terms "yǔhángyuán" ("sailing personnel in universe"
for cosmonaut and "hángtiānyuán" ("sailing personnel in sky" for astronaut have long been used. The phrase "tàikōng rén" ("spaceman" is often used in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
The term taikonaut is used by some English-language news media organizations for professional space travelers from China.[22] The word has featured in the Longman and Oxford English dictionaries, the latter of which describes it as "a hybrid of the Chinese term taikong (space) and the Greek naut (sailor)"
**I think I prefer taikong ren. In her case it would be Taikong Nu Ren, female space person..
