BEIJING - The first ever Hong Kong astronaut on board the Tiangong space station as Shenzhou XXIII crewed spaceship was successfully launched came as a tangible outcome of the practice of "one country, two systems", the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

According to media report, Lai Ka-ying, a Hong Kong local, has made history as the first member of China's fourth batch of astronauts to take on an in-orbit mission, as well as the first female payload specialist from the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions to join a national manned space program.