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0每天五分钟听经典英文故事，读绘本，磨耳朵。香港首位女航天员黎家盈的真实成长故事，从家门口的紫荆花小路到酒泉卫星发射中心的梦想之旅。
On the morning of May 23, 2026, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center
A press conference pushed three names into the public eye
Zhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka Ying
The crew for the Shenzhou-23 manned mission was officially announced
The next evening, at 23:08 on May 24, the spacecraft would target this time for launch
Many people's eyes stopped on the third name
Lai Ka Ying
She came from Hong Kong and was the payload specialist for this mission
This story cannot begin with the rocket ignition
Because before the rocket, there was an ordinary path
Public reports stated that Lai Ka Ying was born, studied, and worked without ever leaving Hong Kong
There was a small path lined with bauhinia flowers outside her home
As a child, she walked out from there to go to school, to grow up, and to understand the order and changes of a city
On the night of June 30, 1997, fifteen-year-old Lai Ka Ying walked onto the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui with her family
That night, Hong Kong was waiting for a historic midnight
She saw police officers changing their badges on duty and saw her parents, originally from Shunde in Guangdong, shed tears
We don't need to over-explain this scene
A fifteen-year-old girl stood in the crowd, seeing streets, uniforms, badges, her family's tears, and watching a city enter a new time
That moment didn't automatically decide her future life, but it became a deep nail in her memory
Later, she was admitted to the University of Hong Kong to study computer science, all the way to a doctoral degree
It was an era of rapid internet development, and a computer science PhD had many choices
She eventually joined the Hong Kong Police Force, working in technical services
This is not a story of a sudden turn toward space
For a long time, her identity was clear: a professional who grew up in Hong Kong, a technical backbone in the police force, someone who put her knowledge into the public service system
The real turning point came in October 2022
China's fourth batch of astronaut selection began
This time, the selection was open to Hong Kong and Macao
Lai Ka Ying signed up
In public reports, she said she got carsick and seasick, but strangely didn't feel dizzy in the rotating chair test
During the centrifuge assessment, her vision had already blurred, but by persisting a little longer, she got through it
These small details are closer to reality than saying "she was born for space"
Astronaut selection doesn't believe in legends
It believes in physical indicators, psychological stability, professional background, and the results of test after test
Initial selection, re-selection, and final selection
Going through each stage, in June 2024, Lai Ka Ying was selected as a payload specialist in China's fourth batch of astronauts
In August 2024, she entered the People's Liberation Army Astronaut Corps
From that moment, her life truly changed
She was no longer just a police superintendent in the Hong Kong Police Force, no longer just a computer science PhD, and no longer just someone who passed the selection
She had to relearn an enormous system
Aerodynamics, spacecraft principles, space station assembly management, space science experiments, robotic arm operations, and manned spacecraft procedures
These topics sound distant, but in training, they became daily classes, assessments, simulations, and reviews
Official information stated that after joining the corps, she completed over 200 training subjects across 8 categories, totaling more than 1,700 hours, and passed the flight qualification assessment with excellent results
A little over one year is a short time
But the standards weren't lowered because she came from Hong Kong, because she was a payload specialist, or because it was her first mission
During the 72-hour sleep deprivation training, when extremely exhausted, she found Cantonese would slip out
In wilderness survival training, she and her teammates passed through jungles with snakes and insects, entered dark narrow caves, and experienced the heat and cold of the desert
These places were far from Hong Kong
Far from that small path lined with bauhinia flowers outside her home
But sometimes people are reshaped this way
Not by a slogan, but by completing tasks when too sleepy to keep eyes open, by listening clearly to instructions when the body already feels terrible, by learning to trust the team in completely unfamiliar environments and letting the team trust you
The Shenzhou-23 crew is not one person's spotlight
Zhu Yangzhu serves as the commander, having previously flown on the Shenzhou-16 mission
Zhang Zhiyuan is the space pilot, from China's third batch of astronauts
Lai Ka Ying is the payload specialist, from China's fourth batch of astronauts
The three people represent the three types of astronauts currently serving in China
Flight engineer, space pilot, and payload specialist
This is also a clear signal that China's space station has entered the application and development phase: space missions don't only need people who can pilot spacecraft, but also need engineering technicians, science experiment executors, and more professional backgrounds to enter the same system
So Lai Ka Ying's significance is not just "the first from Hong Kong"
If we only write her as a symbol, it would actually narrow her story
Her more specific significance lies in this: a person who studied and worked in Hong Kong for a long time, someone who came from a technical position, entered the national manned space mission through strict selection and training
She is not someone put into the story to serve as a symbol
She is someone who will carry out tasks in the space station
According to public introductions, the Shenzhou-23 mission will complete in-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou-21 crew, continue space science and application work, conduct extravehicular activities and cargo transfers, install and recover external payloads and equipment, and also carry out science education, public welfare activities, and space-based experiments
These words sound grand
But for a payload specialist, they become specific actions
The start and end of an experiment, recording a set of data, confirming an equipment status, executing a procedure that cannot go wrong
Space doesn't become gentle just because someone is visiting for the first time
It only accepts those who are fully prepared
On May 23, Lai Ka Ying had already entered the public eye
But the story hadn't reached its ending
Because Shenzhou-23 hadn't launched yet
23:08 Beijing time on May 24 was an approaching moment
The Long March 2F Y23 rocket was about to be fueled with propellant, the space station was orbiting about 400 kilometers away, and the ground systems, spacecraft, rocket, and crew were all waiting for the final window
Looking back at that small path lined with bauhinia flowers now, it seems very quiet
A girl once walked from there to school, to university, to the police force, and later to the Astronaut Corps
Her path wasn't suddenly rewritten
It extended bit by bit
From the streets of Hong Kong to the launch site at Jiuquan
From computer science to payload specialist
From a police badge to a spacecraft
When the hatch closes and the countdown begins, many people will see the rocket rise on their screens
At that moment, viewers see flames, thunder, and the night sky being lit up
But behind the flames, there is a longer time
There is the street from when she was fifteen, the classrooms at the University of Hong Kong, the technical position in the police force, selection test after selection test, 72 hours without sleep in training, and the tacit understanding formed among a crew before departure
The most moving part of space stories may not be how far they are from us
But that they finally tell us: the path to space often begins from the most familiar place under a person's feet
