An 11-year-old boy named Yan Hongsen from China is being hailed as a prodigy after teaching himself programming, physics, and chemistry to build a rocket with 600 lines of code. Hongsen, who has earned the nickname “Rocket Boy,” is a primary five student.
According to the South China Morning Post, Hongsen has been sharing his journey on Douyin, a Chinese social media platform. His fascination with rockets and astronomy began at the age of four after visiting a launch center and witnessing the Long March-2 liftoff.
Hongsen started learning programming in kindergarten and taught himself physics and chemistry through books, online videos, and forums with astronomy enthusiasts. Encouraged by his eagerness to learn, his parents converted their living room into a rocket research studio.
In August 2022, Hongsen began building his first homemade rocket. Although it crashed during its launch in June last year, he analyzed the debris to understand what went wrong. “The nitrocellulose didn’t explode as expected; the spring and lithium battery were also damaged. Maybe there is still an issue with the rocket’s body connection,” he told the South China Morning Post.
His father described the maiden launch as a success despite the crash, expressing excitement and pride in his son’s calm and determined demeanor. Currently, Hongsen is working on modifying his second rocket model. He has written over 600 lines of code for its flight control system and aspires to develop a genuine rocket for China in the future. Hongsen dreams of enrolling in one of China’s elite civilian defense institutes to further his passion for space exploration.
