Upping the country’s status on space, Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry has announced that they will be selecting next year the first Pakistani to go in 2022.
In a pioneering new announcement made on Thursday, Chaudhry declared that the selection process to send Pakistan’s first ever astronaut to the space will initiate next year in February.
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Proud to announce that selection process for the first Pakistani to be sent to Space shall begin from Feb 2020,fifty people will be shortlisted — list will then come down to 25 and in 2022 we will send our first person to space,this will be the biggest space event of our history
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) July 25, 2019
The minister’s tweet read that as many as 50 people will be shortlisted from the applicants, which will then be cut down till 25. He added that by 2022, they will be sending their first ever Pakistani citizen to space, which will also mark as the biggest ever space event for the country.
Famous actor-cum-pilot Fakhr-e-Alam too showed interest in the opportunity and replied to the tweet asking about further details on how to apply.
I would like to apply for space travel. How and where can I find the details?
— Fakhr-e-Alam (@falamb3) July 25, 2019
Until now, Pakistan has launched two satellites into orbit with the help of Chinese launch vehicle. One of the satellites launched from China is supposed to be a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite. The second one in intended to enhance satellite manufacture abilities in the country.
Selection of first Pakistani for space will be done next year: Fawad Chaudhry