Reach for the stars, China’s second female astronaut Wang Yaping tells Hongkongers
She says future missions will recruit beyond country’s military and consider researchers and scientists
On Tuesday, Wang Yaping, speaking to a full house at the InnoTech Expo at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai, Hong Kong, said her dream was to return to space and explore further into unchartered territory.
In June 2013, Wang travelled on the Shenzhou 10 spacecraft with two male colleagues, Nie Haisheng and Zhang Xiaoguang, on a 15-day mission orbiting Earth. The crew docked with Tiangong-1, China’s first prototype space station.
“Hong Kong people will definitely have opportunities to join the nation’s space missions in the future,” the 37-year-old said.
“The country currently has two batches of astronauts. All are military pilots from the air force. But we’re now recruiting the third batch … and we also select from scientists and researchers.”
She added that the nation’s astronauts will come from more diverse backgrounds in the future and that Hong Kong students were fortunate to have played a part in Shenzhou 11, last year’s mission.