Science and space enthusiasts in Hong Kong will get a chance to meet China's top aerospace scientists and engineers who have contributed to the nation's many deep-space missions over the decades.

Starting Wednesday, several members of a top-level delegation of aerospace scientists will give talks at universities and secondary schools in Hong Kong. The scientists' visits come a week after China successfully launched its Shenzhou XII spacecraft with three astronauts on Thursday.

The visits are the biggest of their kind in the past two years and the most extensive cross-border exchange visits since the pandemic started in 2020.

Zhao Xiaojin, senior vice-president of the China Academy of Space Technology, said through these visits Hong Kong residents will be able to better understand the nation's development, according to local Chinese-language newspaper Ta Kung Pao.

Zhao added he hopes the visits and the talks will engage more young people in Hong Kong in scientific endeavors and encourage them in innovation and creativity.

According to Hong Kong Polytechnic University, three distinguished scientists who participated in China's space exploration programs will give lectures there at events to be held on Wednesday and Thursday.

The lecturers are Qi Faren, chief designer of the Shenzhou spaceship, Xie Jun, deputy chief designer of the Beidou Navigation Satellite System and chief designer of Beidou's third-generation satellite, and Zhang He, executive director of the Chang'e 4 probe project. The lectures will also be broadcast live.

Two further lectures will be held at the University of Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning.

According to the university's website, three scientists－Hu Hao, chief designer of the third stage of the nation's lunar exploration project, Long Lehao, chief designer of China's Long March rocket series, and Sun Zezhou, chief designer of the Tianwen 1 Mars probe－will give talks at these two lectures.

Soil samples collected from the moon by China's fifth lunar exploration mission in late 2020 will accompany the scientists' delegation to Hong Kong, Ta Kung Pao reported. The lunar soil will be displayed at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from Sunday through early July.

Hong Kong scientists also played a role in the success of bringing the lunar soil back to Earth.

Team effort

In the Chang'e 5 lunar exploration mission, Yung Kai-leung, chair professor of precision engineering and associate head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and his research team joined with the China Academy of Space Technology to design and manufacture the sampling system.

The exchange visits are jointly organized by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Hong Kong SAR government, the China Association for Science and Technology, Bauhinia Culture Holdings, the National Museum of China and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.