Thirty students from Secondary Two to Secondary Six who participated in the Young Astronaut Training Camp 2025 organised by the Hong Kong Space Museum have completed their nine-day training camp in Beijing, Jiuquan, Xi'an, etc. Today (September 2), they were presented with certificates at a sharing session held at the Hong Kong Science Museum. Three students who were honoured with the Best Camper Performance awards for their outstanding efforts also shared their feelings and valuable experiences gained from the training camp. They expressed admiration for the country's aerospace experts, feeling proud of its remarkable aerospace endeavours and wishing to contribute to the aerospace industry in the future.
 
     The training camp ran from July 25 to August 2. Students visited various key astronomy and aerospace facilities, including making their first visit to the Wuqing Station of the National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing, where they learned about data reception and deep space communication systems of the Tianwen-1 Mars exploration mission. The students also met with the commander of the Shenzhou-19, Mr Cai Xuzhe, who participated in the Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-19 space missions. Mr Cai has set multiple records during the extravehicular activities of the Shenzhou-19 mission: His first spacewalk lasted nine hours, breaking the world record for the longest single spacewalk, and he completed a total of five spacewalks across two missions, making him the astronaut with the most spacewalks to date in China.
 
     The students also visited Beijing Aerospace City, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China National Space Administration Space Debris Observation and Data Application Center, and National Time Service Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, where they gained an in-depth understanding of China's manned space research, development, and application. At the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, they experienced the aerospace medicine project and astronaut training activities, such as the donning and doffing of spacesuits and blood redistribution training. During the rocket model workshop, they also learned about the basic structure of rockets and how to build rocket models.
 
     Launched in 2009, the Young Astronaut Training Camp has been held on 14 occasions, attracting nearly 400 students to join. Recruitment for this year's training camp started in May and received an overwhelming response. After three rounds of selection - a quiz on astronomy and space science, a three-day pre-camp training and an interview - participants were selected as Young Astronauts out of more than 120 applicants from around 80 local secondary schools.
 
     The training camp is jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, in association with the Beijing-Hong Kong Academic Exchange Centre. It is organised by the Hong Kong Space Museum and sponsored by the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce. It is one of the programmes under the Chinese Culture Promotion Series. For details of the training camp, please visit the website of the Hong Kong Space Museum at hk.space.museum/en/web/spm/activities/yatc.html.

Ends/Tuesday, September 2, 2025
Issued at HKT 18:55

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