Beijing, Sep 17 (Xinhua) China has selected 30 men and 15 women candidates in the second round of its space-training programme, officials said Thursday.

All 45 candidates are air force pilots.

Five men and two women will be finally selected to become astronauts.

It is the first time women have enrolled to join the country's space programme, officials said.

The candidates, aged between 27 and 34, will now undergo physiological and psychological tests.

The male candidates are fighter jet pilots, while the female candidates are aero-transport pilots, and all serve in the People's Liberation Army (PLA), an air force official said.

Many of them have conducted rescue operations after the devastating earthquake May 12, 2008, in southwestern Sichuan province.