First Pakistani to be sent to space by 2022: govt

Information Minister Chaudhary Fawad Hussain has announced that the government has decided to send first Pakistani into space in 2022.

Chaudhry was addressing the media on Thursday, while sitting alongside Finance Minister Asad Umar and Power Minister Omar Ayub Khan, in a joint press conference at the Information Services Academy in Islamabad.

The Information Minister informed that the cabinet decided that first Pakistani will be sent to space in 2022. An agreement has been signed to this effect between SUPARCO and their Chinese counterpart.

Earlier, in July Pakistan launched two indigenously manufactured satellites to space with Chine help. The PRSS1 and PAK-TES-1A, were launched using the Chinese Long March 2C rocket. The former satellite is a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite, while the latter is a scientific experiment satellite.

PAK-TES-1A has been manufactured by SUPARCO for enhancing satellite manufacture capabilities in the country. In order to be launched, the satellites were transported to China to be launched to space via Chinese Long March-2C rocket, generally used to send satellites to low Earth or sun-synchronous orbits.