So Hong Kong finally has an astronaut, Lai Ka-ying, and she's not just floating around up there taking photos. She and her two Shenzhou-23 crewmates are going to teach an actual live lesson, beamed down to students and teachers here and in Macau. A woman from Hong Kong, talking to Hong Kong kids, from space. Try topping that for show and tell.

Look, half of this is genuinely great. Kids get to watch someone who grew up in the same system they did, floating past a window with the whole Earth behind her. That sticks with you longer than any careers day. The other half is that Beijing knows exactly what it's doing putting a Hong Kong face on the space program right when everyone wants young people here feeling proud of the mainland connection. Both things can be true at once: it's a genuinely cool moment for the classroom, and it's also a message, aimed at the same classroom. Either way, some teacher is scrambling to figure out the AV setup for a live feed from orbit, and that's the part I'd actually pay to watch.