GUWAHATI: Pakistan aims to send its first astronaut into space by 2022 using close ally China's satellite launch facilities and will begin selecting candidates next year.
This decision came as India successfully launched its second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2.
Fawad Chaudhry, Minister for Science and Technology, Pakistan said the selection process of the astronaut for the space mission would start from February 2020.
"Proud to announce that selection process for the first Pakistani to be sent to Space shall begin from February 2020. Fifty people will be short listed. The 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 country, Chaudhry said in a tweet.
Pakistan’s National Space Agency SUPARCO (Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission) was set up in 1961. It launched its first communication satellite 50 years later with help from a subsidiary of China Aerospace and Technology Corporation.
(Inputs PTI)