Pakistan to send its first astronaut to space in 2022: Minister
Islamabad, Sep 16: Pakistan plans to send its first astronaut to space by 2022 with the help of its close ally China, Minister for Science and Technology has said.
The selection process for the astronaut would start in 2020, Federal Minister for Science and Technology, Chaudhry Fawad Hussain said on Sunday.
China would collaborate with Pakistan in its space mission, Fawad was quoted as saying by the News International reported.
He said that initially, 50 individuals would be selected after which the list will be shortened to 25 in 2022. And out of them only one would be sent to space.
The Pakistan Air Force would play an important role in the selection process of the astronaut, the report said.
He said the collaboration of Pakistan and India in the fields of science and technology could prove fruitful for the region.
Fawad said Pakistan was the second in Asia after the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), which had sent its rocket into the space in 1963.
The Pakistan Space Science Education Center was playing an important role for the promotion of space sciences in the country, he added.
Last year, Pakistan launched two indigenously-built satellites into the orbit, using a Chinese launch vehicle.
The satellites were launched onboard the Chinese Long March (LM-2C) rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre located at the Gobi desert, China, The Express Tribune had reported.
One of them was a remote sensing satellite (PRSS1) a dual-purpose Earth observational and optical satellite.
The second test satellite launched was a PAK-TES-1A to enhance satellite manufacture capabilities in the country.
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BJP does not follow democratic norms: Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi
Kozhikode(Kerala) (PTI): Congress MP from Wayanad Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who arrived on a two day visit to Kerala after her maiden electoral win, on Saturday attacked the BJP by accusing it of not following usual democratic norms even in political fights.
Priyanka compared the BJP's behaviour with the landslides that hit Wayanad in July, saying just like the natural disaster the saffron party's conduct knows no rules, offers no explanations and follows no democratic norms that are normally adhered to in political fights.
"The political challenges we face (from the BJP) today are like the landslides. There are no rules. There are no explanations."
"The behaviour of the ruling party (at the Centre), the BJP, knows no democratic norms, not even those we normally adhere to in a political fight," she said while speaking at a joint public meeting, with her brother and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, at Mukkam here.
She further contended that institutions were being destroyed leading to the wavering of the people's basic faith in the electoral process and "the institutions that held our country together".
Priyanka assured the people of Wayanad LS constituency that she was in the Parliament for them and it is their voice that she will raise there.
"It is your voice that I will raise, it is your problems that I will try to resolve and it is your beliefs, values and aspirations that I will stand for each and every day from now till the end," she said.
After the joint public meeting at Mukkam in Thiruvambadi assembly constituency here, receptions will be held for her at Karulai in Nilambur, Wandoor, and Edavanna in Eranad during the day, the party said.
The Wayanad constituency comprises seven assembly segments of Mananthavady (ST), Sulthan Bathery (ST), and Kalpetta in Wayanad district; Thiruvambady in Kozhikode district; and Eranad, Nilambur, and Wandoor in Malappuram district.
Priyanka had scored her maiden electoral victory by winning the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll with a huge margin of 4,10,931 votes, which is bigger than the lead her brother Rahul secured when he won from the constituency during the Lok Sabha general elections held early this year.
