Islamabad:

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday said that Pakistan, in collaboration with China, will send his first space manned mission to China’s space station.

With a ceremony after witnessing the exchange of a cooperation agreement between Pakistan’s space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Supparco) and China manned a Space Agency, the Prime Minister said this was another wonderful gesture from the Chinese government to further elaborate on bilateral cooperation in this area.

According to the agreement, two Pakistani astronauts will undergo training in the Astronaut Center in China. An elected astronaut must be trained as a scientific payroll specialist and is preparing for specialized research aboard China Space Station (CSS). The astronaut selection process will end in 2026 with the aim of flying in an upcoming mission according to CSS planning.

The first national astronaut’s mission at CSS will involve the performance of pioneering scientific experiments in various areas, including biological and medical sciences, space, applied physics, fluid mechanics, space radiation, ecology, material skills, microgravity studies and astronomy.

China staffed aerospace agency said in a news message that the two sides will spend about a year to complete the selection process before sending the Pakistani candidates to China to receive extensive and systematic training. Details of when the selection process would begin has not yet been revealed, according to China daily on Friday.

After the Pakistani trainees are clear, one of them will accompany Chinese astronauts to the Tiangong Room Station and spend a short stay inside the colossal spacecraft currently orbiting the Earth at approx. 400 kilometers above ground, noticed the agency.

So far, the highest height every Pakistani has ever reached is approx. 87.4 km by a female polar adventurer and artist Namira Salim during a 55-minute suborbital journey organized by the US carrier Virgin Galactic on October 6, 2023.

It is a common knowledge that the Karman line, a height of 100 km above sea level, is the start of outer space and the threshold of orbital flying.

The signing of the cooperation agreement has created fresh opportunities and set a model for several developing countries to participate in internationally staffed space cooperation.

It is expected to inspire nations around the world to join forces with exploring the mysteries of the universe and collectively forge a new chapter to promote common interests in favor of all humanity, according to release.

Since the launch of Tiangong’s first component in April 2021, Chinese Spacecrafts have fled the idea of ​​picking and sending foreigners to the space station.

Key project managers such as Yang Liwei, the first Chinese in space and now a vice chief planner of the country’s manned space flights, and Lin Xiqiang, deputy head of China staffed aerospace agency, has repeatedly said that China is open to international cooperation at its space station, including flights that are jointly occupied with other nations.

Chen Shanguang, another senior official in China’s manned space program, said in February 2023 that “several countries have told China that they hope to send their astronauts to the Tiangong station”.

Tiangong is one of the largest and most advanced structures ever deployed in the Earth’s orbit and is the only operating space station independently built by a single nation.

The Chinese outpost has three permanent parts – a core fashion and two science capsules – and is regularly associated with Sevelaal visitors crew and loading room. It now weighs more than 100 tonnes and is expected to operate for at least 10 years.

So far, eight crews have been sent to Man Space Station, including the established Shenzhou XIX team, which arrived at the outpost at the end of October and is scheduled to return in late April or early May.

In August 2017, Samantha Cristoforetti from Italy and Matthias Maurer from Germany, both from the European Space Agency, participated in a sea survival exercise organized by Astronaut Center in China, in waters off the coastal town of Yantai, Shandong Province.

They were the first foreign astronauts to participate in training in China.