从紫荆花小路到神舟二十三号｜From the Bauhinia Path to Shenzhou-23

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 CenterA press conference pushed three names into the public eyeZhu Yangzhu, Zhang Zhiyuan, and Lai Ka YingThe crew for the Shenzhou-23 manned mission was officially announcedThe next evening, at 23:08 on May 24, the spacecraft would target this time for launchMany people's eyes stopped on the third nameLai Ka YingShe came from Hong Kong and was the payload specialist for this missionThis story cannot begin with the rocket ignitionBecause before the rocket, there was an ordinary pathPublic reports stated that Lai Ka Ying was born, studied, and worked without ever leaving Hong KongThere was a small path lined with bauhinia flowers outside her homeAs a child, she walked out from there to go to school, to grow up, and to understand the order and changes of a cityOn the night of June 30, 1997, fifteen-year-old Lai Ka Ying walked onto the streets of Tsim Sha Tsui with her familyThat night, Hong Kong was waiting for a historic midnightShe saw police officers changing their badges on duty and saw her parents, originally from Shunde in Guangdong, shed tearsWe don't need to over-explain this sceneA fifteen-year-old girl stood in the crowd, seeing streets, uniforms, badges, her family's tears, and watching a city enter a new timeThat moment didn't automatically decide her future life, but it became a deep nail in her memoryLater, she was admitted to the University of Hong Kong to study computer science, all the way to a doctoral degreeIt was an era of rapid internet development, and a computer science PhD had many choicesShe eventually joined the Hong Kong Police Force, working in technical servicesThis is not a story of a sudden turn toward spaceFor 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 systemThe real turning point came in October 2022China's fourth batch of astronaut selection beganThis time, the selection was open to Hong Kong and MacaoLai Ka Ying signed upIn public reports, she said she got carsick and seasick, but strangely didn't feel dizzy in the rotating chair testDuring the centrifuge assessment, her vision had already blurred, but by persisting a little longer, she got through itThese small details are closer to reality than saying "she was born for space"Astronaut selection doesn't believe in legendsIt believes in physical indicators, psychological stability, professional background, and the results of test after testInitial selection, re-selection, and final selectionGoing through each stage, in June 2024, Lai Ka Ying was selected as a payload specialist in China's fourth batch of astronautsIn August 2024, she entered the People's Liberation Army Astronaut CorpsFrom that moment, her life truly changedShe 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 selectionShe had to relearn an enormous systemAerodynamics, spacecraft principles, space station assembly management, space science experiments, robotic arm operations, and manned spacecraft proceduresThese topics sound distant, but in training, they became daily classes, assessments, simulations, and reviewsOfficial 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 resultsA little over one year is a short timeBut the standards weren't lowered because she came from Hong Kong, because she was a payload specialist, or because it was her first missionDuring the 72-hour sleep deprivation training, when extremely exhausted, she found Cantonese would slip outIn 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 desertThese places were far from Hong KongFar from that small path lined with bauhinia flowers outside her homeBut sometimes people are reshaped this wayNot 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 youThe Shenzhou-23 crew is not one person's spotlightZhu Yangzhu serves as the commander, having previously flown on the Shenzhou-16 missionZhang Zhiyuan is the space pilot, from China's third batch of astronautsLai Ka Ying is the payload specialist, from China's fourth batch of astronautsThe three people represent the three types of astronauts currently serving in ChinaFlight engineer, space pilot, and payload specialistThis 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 systemSo 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 storyHer 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 trainingShe is not someone put into the story to serve as a symbolShe is someone who will carry out tasks in the space stationAccording 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 experimentsThese words sound grandBut for a payload specialist, they become specific actionsThe start and end of an experiment, recording a set of data, confirming an equipment status, executing a procedure that cannot go wrongSpace doesn't become gentle just because someone is visiting for the first timeIt only accepts those who are fully preparedOn May 23, Lai Ka Ying had already entered the public eyeBut the story hadn't reached its endingBecause Shenzhou-23 hadn't launched yet23:08 Beijing time on May 24 was an approaching momentThe 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 windowLooking back at that small path lined with bauhinia flowers now, it seems very quietA girl once walked from there to school, to university, to the police force, and later to the Astronaut CorpsHer path wasn't suddenly rewrittenIt extended bit by bitFrom the streets of Hong Kong to the launch site at JiuquanFrom computer science to payload specialistFrom a police badge to a spacecraftWhen the hatch closes and the countdown begins, many people will see the rocket rise on their screensAt that moment, viewers see flames, thunder, and the night sky being lit upBut behind the flames, there is a longer timeThere 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 departureThe most moving part of space stories may not be how far they are from usBut that they finally tell us: the path to space often begins from the most familiar place under a person's feet前往小宇宙评论区与主播互动