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Holly Chik

Jess Ma

Hong Kong will send its first astronaut to the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Saturday.
Lai Ka-ying, a police superintendent with a doctorate in computer science, will join the Shenzhou-23 mission as a payload specialist and become the fourth woman astronaut to enter the Chinese space station.
The Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft is targeting a launch at 11.08pm on Sunday.
According to the agency, Lai will work alongside astronauts Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan. Zhu, the mission commander, previously served on Shenzhou-16, while Lai and Zhang are both space-flight first-timers.




Lai, China’s first female payload expert, was selected for training in 2024 as part of China’s fourth batch of astronauts.
That batch comprised 10 candidates: eight pilots and two payload specialists, with the latter two chosen from the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau.
“Lai joined the team in August 2024 … and completed 1,700 training hours, passing the flight qualification assessment with flying colours,” agency spokesman Zhang Jingbo said, adding that Lai had met all requirements and was in good shape.
For the first time, one of the astronauts on the mission would stay in orbit for a year to study the long-term effects on the astronaut’s health and to improve in-orbit medical support, Zhang Jingbo said on Saturday.
The other two members of the crew will be in space for about six months.
The Shenzhou-21 crew has so far been aloft for more than 200 days and is on track to break the record held by the previous crew, which returned to Earth after 204 days.


Wu Bin, deputy chief designer of the astronaut system at the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre, said that staying in orbit for a year was a huge physical and mental challenge and the authorities had yet to decide which astronaut would get the job.
“We will conduct evaluations as the mission progresses and decide who is more suitable for performing the year-long mission based on medical and psychological assessments,” he said.
During their time on the space station, the Shenzhou-23 crew will conduct more than 100 new scientific studies, including research on zebrafish, mice and artificial embryos to study reproduction in space. They will also test aerospace medicine and a new space energy storage battery, and explore the effects of space on new materials such as rare-earth permanent magnet alloys.
The Chinese space programme is also widening its intake to include international candidates. Last month, two Pakistani astronauts started training alongside Chinese peers, with one expected to serve as a payload specialist on a short-term mission.
Zhang Jingbo said that part of the training involved intensive Chinese-language courses, covering basic Chinese and flight mission commands.
“They are undergoing basic and aerospace technical training focused on practical operational skills to ensure the Pakistani astronauts can complete the flight mission. Preparations are progressing smoothly,” he said.


Zhang Jingbo also said the agency had integrated the missions, resources and teams of the existing manned lunar landing and unmanned lunar exploration programmes into the broader “lunar exploration programme”.
On the uncrewed front, he said the Chang’e-7 lunar probe was scheduled for launch in the second half of the year to survey the lunar south pole environment and resources.
“We will also take important missions as planned [this year], including the verification flight of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, the maiden flight of the Mengzhou crewed re-entry spacecraft and the Lanyue lander, and make every effort to achieve the goal of Chinese people landing on the moon for the first time before 2030.”
Under existing plans, the crewed Mengzhou spacecraft and the Lanyue lander will be launched separately on Long March-10 rockets, with the two vehicles rendezvousing in lunar orbit ahead of a landing attempt.
Zhang Jingbo said Hong Kong’s research institutes and universities had become an active part of the national space effort, particularly the Multi‑Spectral Imaging Carbon Observatory, a project led by Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
“[The observatory] can perform high-resolution monitoring of atmospheric carbon dioxide and methane concentrations from key emission sources in the mid- and low-latitude range,” Zhang said.
“We believe that under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, Hong Kong’s international advantages can be fully leveraged to further attract and cultivate high-end scientific and technological innovation expertise, and contribute to the development of the country’s manned space programme.”


Speaking on Saturday before her expected space flight, Lai said she felt honoured to take part in the mission.
“At this moment, my heart is filled with gratitude and honour. I also feel the glory of the mission and its heavy responsibility,” she said.
“I first need to thank the motherland for a platform to achieve this dream. I also need to thank the Hong Kong government and Hongkongers for their wholehearted support.”
She said she would do her utmost to complete her tasks and “shoulder the astronaut’s mission to contribute to national development. I will not disappoint Hong Kong residents’ expectations.”
Prior to her selection, Lai was attached to the police force’s Technical Services Division before being transferred to the Security Bureau. In her doctoral thesis, submitted to the University of Hong Kong (HKU) in 2011, she proposed the criminal profiling of internet pirates – individuals who illegitimately distribute copyrighted files online – to help law enforcement better understand offenders.
Lai’s PhD supervisor, Chow Kam-pui, an honorary associate professor at HKU’s school of computing and data science, said on Friday that computer science could support space exploration.
“For example, experiments in the space station will generate a lot of data. This would require the continued development of data science,” Chow said, noting that data transmission was another crucial area to explore.
“If data from experiments could be transmitted to Earth more quickly via a dedicated communication network before the physical samples are returned, it would be beneficial to scientific research and development.”
Further down the road, scientists were also interested in seeing how quantum computing performed in orbit, as the machines faced many limitations on Earth, he added. “The nature of quantum computers in space remains entirely unknown, with many new fields for exploration.”
“With Ka-ying now involved in aerospace science, I hope that students in Hong Kong will have more opportunities to learn about aerospace technologies,” Chow said.
HKU also noted that computer science was a core engine of space development.
“Modern space missions are driven by complex algorithms, cybersecurity and massive data processing,” the university said. “Dr Lai’s background in computer science at HKU provides a foundation in ‘digital architecture’, supporting her work as a payload specialist.
“Her ability to handle complex data under immense pressure, shown during her studies at HKU, is a key capability required by the national space programme to advance the new generation of Shenzhou space missions.”
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China

The former police officer will become China’s fourth woman in space, taking part in the Shenzhou-23 mission as a payload specialist


The former police officer will become China’s fourth woman in space, taking part in the Shenzhou-23 mission as a payload specialist.


Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s first astronaut Lai Ka-ying picked for space station mission

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The former police officer will become China’s fourth woman in space, taking part in the Shenzhou-23 mission as a payload specialist

The former police officer will become China’s fourth woman in space, taking part in the Shenzhou-23 mission as a payload specialist