China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang said yesterday he expected more Macau features in the nation’s manned space projects in the future.
At the invitation of the local government, a delegation of China’ manned space programme paid a three-day visit to Macau from Friday through yesterday after a three-day trip to Hong Kong. Members of the delegation concluded their trip with a visit to the Macau Science Museum in Nape yesterday morning, where they were “deeply impressed by the enthusiasm of Macau compatriots for the nation’s manned space flight projects, especially youngsters’ curiosity about [their country’s] astronauts”, Lin said.
Lin also said he hoped that the visit would reinforce Macau compatriots’ understanding of the nation’s manned space projects, so that local youth would further enhance their interest in exploring scientific knowledge and space engineering.
Accompanied by the Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elise Ao Ieong U and Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Director Kong Chi Meng, Lin, who led the delegation, male astronauts Zhang Lu, Liu Boming and Chen Dong, as well as female astronaut Wang Yaping visited the Macau Science Museum’s International Laboratory for Science Popularisation of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and Data Science Gallery, among other exhibits.
Speaking to the media after the delegation’s visit to the museum, Macau Science Museum Curator Sio Hon Pan said that the members of the delegation were “very impressed and recognised” the space science popularisation being carried out by the museum, while Huang King Pui, a Form Six student of Tong Nam School, said that it was a remarkable opportunity for him finally to have had a face-to-face conversation with Wang, with whom he had had an online conversation when she was on the nation’s space station and gave a lecture that was broadcast live to audiences around the globe two years ago.
Nation supports Macau’s contributions to manned space flight: Lin
The delegation arrived in Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge (HZMB) on Friday, and the local government hosted a welcome dinner at Melco’s City of Dreams resort in Cotai that night, during which Chief Executive Ho Iat Seng said that the delegation’s visit to Macau showed the nation’s concern and support for young local students’ science and technology education, which was of great significance.
Delivering a speech during Friday’s dinner, Lin pointed out that the country aims to achieve its first lunar landing by 2030, adding that in its follow-up work, “we are willing to proactively support the Macau Special Administrative Region’s (MSAR) scientific research institutions and scientists to participate more in the development and construction of [the nation’s] manned space flight”.
Space engineering is not only manned project, but also scientific spirit: student
During its second day in Macau on Saturday, the delegation held a special lecture on China’s Manned Space Flight at the Forum Macao Complex in Nam Van, during which the four astronauts briefed about 400 local secondary school and university students about their daily life in space, and their experience in carrying out extravehicular missions, in addition to China’s space programme development strategies, the construction of China’s space station and its manned lunar missions.
DSEDJ Director Kong told reporters after Saturday’s seminar he believed that the face-to-face contact with the astronauts would raise young local people’s awareness of the importance of science popularisation education.
Hung Ling Ming, a PhD student at the University of Macau (UM), told the media that from the responses and reports by the astronauts, he learnt that space engineering was very rigorous and serious that it was not only a manned project but also [the manifestation of] a scientific spirit that students should strive to pursue.
Members of the delegation also visited the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Zape during their visit on Saturday afternoon.
Accompanied by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elise Ao Ieong U (front, second from left) and Education and Youth Development Bureau (DSEDJ) Director Kong Chi Meng (front, third from left), members of a delegation of the nation’s manned space programme, including China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) Deputy Director Lin Xiqiang (front, second from right) and the country’s first female spacewalker Wang Yaping (front, fifth from right) listen to a presentation during their visit to the Macau Science Museum in Nape yesterday. – Photo: Yuki Lei
The nation’s first spacewalker Wang Yaping (front, third from left) and three local students, including Huang King Pui (front, second from left), a Form Six student of Tong Nam School, give the thumbs up on the sidelines of yesterday’s visit to the Macau Science Museum. – Photo: Yuki Lei
