Pakistan’s first astronaut will undertake a space mission from a Chinese space centre on November 25, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday.
The minister made the announcement while addressing the concluding ceremony of World Space Week in Narowal, held in collaboration with the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco), the planning ministry said in a statement.
According to the handout, the planning minister also said the country was aiming to achieve a lunar landing by 2035, expressing hope that Pakistan’s cooperation with China would help it “reach new heights in space exploration”.
In his address at the ceremony, the planning minister highlighted the importance of space technology in agriculture, communications, climate monitoring, education and national security.
Iqbal stressed that scientific research and space exploration were essential for technological advancement, the ministry’s statement said.
He further noted that Muslim scholars had once made significant contributions to astronomy and scientific discovery, calling for renewed efforts to restore Pakistan’s leadership in knowledge and research.
The astronaut will be one of the two — pilots Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud— China selected in April this year as candidates for its manned space programme and who have been undergoing intensive training in Beijing.
China has not said which of the two will fly or when, but speaking to Reuters last month, Amer Gilani, who oversees human spaceflight cooperation at Suparco, said a final astronaut selection decision was expected in mid-to-late October.
According to another Suparco official quoted by Reuters, once in space, the chosen pilot will carry the title of “payload specialist”, which is astronaut-speak for someone whose job in orbit is running Pakistan’s science experiments rather than flying the ship.
The astronaut will fly aboard a Chinese-built spacecraft, launched from a Chinese site, trained by Chinese instructors and communicating in Mandarin in orbit.