Thirty Hong Kong secondary school students will attend a young astronaut training camp on the mainland later this month, to get a taste of the country's space programme.

Their nine-day trip includes stops in Beijing, as well as space facilities in Jiuquan, Gansu province, and Wenchang in Hainan.

The Hong Kong Space Museum said it's the first time the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre will open to a Hong Kong delegation.

Students will get to put on spacesuits, make and fly rocket models and may get to meet real-life astronauts.

It said the students were picked from a pool of 200 applicants, who were nominated by their schools.

Form two student Law Shun-yan is among those heading to the mainland and said he's very interested in the country's space development.

"I'm very proud of China's space development. I want to become a space scientist or even an astronaut," he told reporters.

"I hope to share what I experience in Jiuquan and Wenchang with others in Hong Kong, so that they get to know more about space, so we can study in this field together in future and contribute to our motherland's aerospace industry."

Speaking at a ceremony before the students headed off, Chief Secretary Eric Chan described the students as new blood for the SAR's integration into the country's development plans.

"As an international innovation and technological centre, Hong Kong surely has its responsibility to contribute what we can to the country's space missions," he said.

Chan thanked mainland authorities and the Chinese General Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the camp, for their support.