More than one HK candidate heading into final round of payload specialist recruitment

The city's innovation and technology chief said more than one local candidate has entered the final round of the payload specialists recruitment for the National Manned Space Program, which is the first time for the country's aerospace project to grant opportunities for Hong Kong citizens to participate.

Secretary for Innovation and Technology Sun Dong said on Tuesday that "not only one" candidate from Hong Kong, which includes both male and female, has made it to the third stage of selections.

Sun added that personnel from the mainland will visit Hong Kong next month to learn more about those candidates. He expected some excellent news could be announced within this year.

The candidates have gone through a series of challenges, from the initial registration of more than 100 people in the city to the 80-person list proposed to the mainland. Among them, more than 10 Hong Kong candidates have passed the preliminary screening process in Beijing.

In October last year, the China Manned Space Agency announced that it was recruiting 12 to 14 reserve-astronauts for their space missions, with two payload specialist positions open to candidates from Hong Kong and Macau.

It was learned that the reserve-astronaut recruitment process would be separated into preliminary, secondary, and final screenings. 

The payload specialists will be selected from experts in fields related to space science research with at least three years experience.