By Jaime A. FlorCruz, CNN
June 16, 2012 -- Updated 0622 GMT (1422 HKT)
People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force fighter pilot Liu Yang, center in a 2010 photo, will be China's first female 'taikonaut.'
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Launch comes 49 years to the day after Russia sent Tereshkova into space
- China's first woman in space comes same week woman wins China's first major golf title
- Marketing experts are tapping into potential goldmine of female Chinese consumers
Editor's note: "Jaime's China" is a weekly column about Chinese society and politics. Jaime FlorCruz has lived and worked in China since 1971. He studied Chinese history at Peking University (1977-81) and was TIME Magazine's Beijing correspondent and bureau chief (1982-2000).
