‘Pak astronaut to go into space in 2022’

Pakistan will send a human to space for the first time in 2022 with China’s help, information minister Fawad Chaudhry announced Thursday, the same year India plans to launch its manned space mission.

Pakistan’s first space mission has been planned for 2022 and the federal Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan approved the plan on Thursday, ahead of his maiden visit to Beijing from November 3.

An agreement between Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) and a Chinese company has already been signed, Chaudhry said.

Pakistan and China already have robust defence ties and Islamabad is one of the top buyers of Chinese military hardware.

Earlier this year, Pakistan launched two indigenously built satellites into orbit, using a Chinese launch vehicle.

The satellites were launched onboard a Chinese Long March rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre located at the Gobi desert, China. One of the satellites launched was a remote sensing satellite– a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite. The second test satellite launched was a PAK-TES-1A, developed by Suparco to enhance satellite manufacture capabilities in the country which would help end Pakistan’s dependency on commercial satellites for information related to weather, environment and agriculture.

The satellites were transported to China as Pakistan lacks the infrastructure to launch objects, the Express Tribune reported citing an official. PTI