China Wont Allow Bad Breath In Space
Updated : Aug 4, 2009
People with bad breath, body odour or runny noses have been banned from becoming astronauts in China.
Would-be astronauts competing for China's next space programme must comply with a list of 100 rules, reports the BBC.
The list, intended to recruit "super human beings", also prohibits those with tooth cavities or scars which may "burst open" in space.
Any candidate with a history of serious illness in the last three generations of their family is also barred. And those with drug allergies or ringworm are also prohibited.
Successful candidates must possess a "pleasant and adaptable disposition", the guidelines make clear.
But aspiring "taikonauts" will get nowhere without marital approval. If a would-be astronaut's spouse does not like the idea of them going into space, they must remain on earth.
Shi Bing Bing, a doctor at the 454th Air Force Hospital in Nanjing, eastern China, said: "Bad body odour will affect fellow colleagues in the narrow confines of a space shuttle.
"These astronauts could be regarded as super human beings."
Mr Shi's hospital has now carried out a first screening of candidates to weed out those who fell foul of the 100 rules, and two further screenings will whittle hopefuls down.