China has launched its first manned space flight, becoming only the third country to put a man into orbit.
Lift-off from the Gobi desert was at 9:00am local time (11:00am AEST), the start of a mission that it is hoped will rocket China into the exclusive space club pioneered by the former Soviet Union and United States four decades ago.
A Long March 2F rocket called the Shenzhou V - "divine ship" in Chinese - carried a single "taikonaut" named Yang Liwei, 38, following a trail blazed by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and American Alan Shepard in 1961.
"I feel good and my conditions are normal," Xinhua quotes Lieutenant-Colonel Yang as saying.
Chinese state television says the spacecraft has entered Earth orbit.
The rocket is to orbit the Earth 14 times before returning after about 21 hours.
Actually, I am a Rocket Scientist.
Also hormonally odd (my blood has 46xy chromosomes anyway) and for most of my life, I looked male, and lived as one, trying to be the best Man a Gal could be. Anyway, in May 2005 that started changing naturally for reasons still unclear, and I'm now Zoe, not Alan : happier and more relaxed not to have to pretend any more.
UPDATE - reason now identified as the 3BHSD form of CAH.
This blog, written by a rocket scientist, is a fascinating collection of information, both personal and scientific, regarding intersex, transsexualism and related psychosocial and psychosexual issues. ... It is erudite and heartfelt. Just read the posts about the passport issue. You won't know whether to laugh, weep or crawl into a ball and rock gently in a corner - an amazing person. - David --- The reason I so appreciate bright, perceptive people - as opposed to ideologues whose intelligence does little to illuminate - is that they manage to both instruct and learn with a certain grace. Among such rarities in the transblogosphere is Zoe, whose direct speech and clear humanity always make her worth reading, even if one doesn’t always agree with her every conclusion. - Val --- The following is a request for permission to archive your A.E.Brain blog site which we have wanted to do for several years... The Library has traditionally collected items in print, but it is also committed to preserving electronic publications of lasting cultural value.... Since (1996) we have been identifying online publications and archiving those that we consider have national significance.... We would like to include A.E.Brain blog site in the PANDORA Archive... -Australian National Library
From the ABC : 
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