NAROWAL: Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Sunday that Pakistan's first astronaut will undertake a space mission from a Chinese space centre on November 25, Dawn reported, citing a planning ministry statement on the World Space Week closing ceremony held with Suparco.
Iqbal also said the country aims for a lunar landing by 2035 and expressed hope that cooperation with China would help Pakistan "reach new heights in space exploration".
The astronaut will be one of two pilots — Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud — whom China selected in April and who have been training in Beijing. Suparco's Amer Gilani told Reuters last month a final selection was expected in mid-to-late October.
Once in space the chosen pilot will serve as a "payload specialist" running Pakistan's science experiments, flying aboard a Chinese spacecraft from a Chinese site and communicating in Mandarin.
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