Who will be the first Taikonaut to fly Szhenzhou-5? by Chen Lan

It has been well-known that two Chinese were under training in Star City, Russia in 1997. At end of 1997, they returned to China and then became trainers of Chinese own taikonaut training program. Their names are reportedly Wu Jie and Li Qinglong. During the training in Russia, they left a few photographs and signatures. The following signature, provided by Bert Vis, are obtained by a Russian trainer in 1997, on which their original Chinese names can be clearly identified. In the West, their names are inconsistently translated on different publications, such as "Wu Tse"and "Li Tsinlung". But from this signature, it can be confirmed that "Li Qinglong" and "Wu Jie" are correct translations according to Chinese official name translation rule.



After the Shenzhou-3 flight, Chinese media reported that the Shenzhou taikonaut group has 14 candidate taikonauts and 2 of them are trainers. Obviously the latter are Wu and Li.

During the Shenzhou-4 mission, Chinese released some photographs showing taikonauts in rehearsals before the launch. It is believed those in photographs are among the 14-people group.



In 2003, the fifth issue of Fliegerrevue, a German magazine, listed 14 names of the current taikonuat group in training:

Chen Quan, Deng Qingming, Fei Junlong, Jing Haipen, Liu Buoming, Liu Wang, Nie Haishen, Pan Zhanchun, Yang Liwei, Zhai Zhigang, Zhang Xiaoguan, Zhao Chuandong, Li Qinglong, Wu Jie.

Li and Wu are in the list. Their spellings are identical to those previously known. Other names also look correct according to the official name translation rule. And all translated family names (the first name) can find an existing family name in Chinese. The list must be from a Chinese source and seems credible.

Who will be the first taikonaut in space? We may have already known his name. We may have already seen him on photos. But we do not know who will be. Fortunately, it will be answered in weeks.

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