The first group of women have been selected to train in China as astronauts.

Thirty-five women between 17 and 20 years old will train as pilots at the Chinese military's Aviation University.

One of the women will be chosen as China's first woman astronaut scheduled to be launched into space by 2010.

The 35 candidates were selected from among more than 200,000 applicants.

The United States and Russia are the only other nations to have launched manned spacecraft - both have sent women into space.

The current U.S. shuttle mission Discovery has a woman commander.