Macau students take ‘space class’ offline with Chinese astronauts

One, two, three!” An email was sent into space at the Macau Science Center on the weekend, witnessed by nearly 200 local students.

The email was sent by Wang Yaping, a crew member for China’s Shenzhou-13 space mission and the first woman astronaut who has entered China’s space station, together with Wong Ging Pui, a senior high school student from Tong Nam Middle School who attended Wang’s space class online two years ago.

“Can astronauts surf on the internet and play video games? Can you watch TV? Can we send emails to you while you are in space?” These were the questions Wong had the chance to ask Wang in December 2021 on behalf of Macau students when she was broadcasting a live lecture in space to students on Earth.

Now Wong was excited to meet Wang in person and experience how to send an email into space using the Beidou Navigation Satellite System.

“I made it!” said Wong. He said Wang has inspired him by her own stories and personally encouraged him to keep studying hard.

“I hope to become a person like her whose life is meaningful to both the society and the country,” he said.

Known for being a “space teacher,” Wang said she was very happy to be able to interact with the students face to face.

“I’m very glad to see how they have grown,” she said, encouraging the young people to explore the unknown and break limits on the way to realizing their dreams.

Wang is a member of a delegation of China’s manned space program on a six-day visit through Sunday to Hong Kong and Macau SARs at the invitation of the SAR governments.

While at the Macau Science Center, the delegation was briefed on popular science education plans for Macau students. The astronauts gave their thumbs up when learning that junior high school students in Macau have lessons on human exploration of the universe and China’s space technology development.

The delegation also visited an ongoing exhibition of China’s achievements in space exploration and navigation held at the Center, including moon samples brought back by the Chang’e 5 lunar mission, models of rockets and “Macao Science 1” space exploration satellites jointly developed by the mainland and Macau. MDT/Xinhua