The 14astronauts vying to ride aboard China's next human spaceflight have completedzero-gravity training for the conditions the final crew will experience inorbit, the country's Xinhua News Agency said.
Only two ofthe 14 astronauts will launch atop a Long March F rocket and fly spacewardinside their Shenzhou 6 spacecraft. China has announced intentions to launchthe mission, its second human spaceflight and first two-person effort, sometimethis fall.
Themission's candidates, which include China's first astronaut Yang Liwei,apparently spent five days undergoing rigorous zero-gravity testing. Despitethe severe physical strain that a zero-gravity environment imposes on humans,none of the 14 gave up during the five days of meticulous testing, according toXinhua.
"Not asingle astronaut ever hesitated or dropped out during the extremely hardtraining," Yang, who became China's first man in space in late 2003, toldXinhua.
Xinhua didnot state where or how the zero-gravity tests were performed, but added thatChina has reportedly conducted past experiments in Russia.
