HONG KONG: China on Tuesday (Jun 11) announced the first astronaut candidates from its special administrative regions of Macao and Hong Kong, with the latter calling it a “glorious page” in the city’s history.
Beijing has invested billions of dollars in its military-run space programme as it pursues ambitious plans for a manned lunar landing by 2030.
The China Manned Space Agency said Tuesday that a payload specialist from Hong Kong and another from Macao were among 10 candidates for the country’s fourth batch of astronauts.
Hong Kong leader John Lee called it “a glorious page in Hong Kong’s history”.
“This is … the first time that a Hong Kong citizen was selected as a payload specialist in China’s manned space programme, with a chance to become an astronaut to go to space in person, to participate in research and to contribute the country’s space programme,” Lee said.
Sun Dong, Hong Kong’s tech and innovation secretary, said the winning candidate was selected out of a pool of 120 applicants through a multi-round process that has been going on since 2022.
“We accepted a rather wide range of professional backgrounds including natural sciences, engineering, biology and medical science, because the space is a brand new area for scientific exploration,” he told reporters, declining to name the Hong Konger selected.
