India became the fourth country to launch the biggest space mission after the US, Russia, and China that would land on the moon and the very first country to land on and explore its south pole region.
This is India’s second trip to the moon and the first probe, Chandrayaan 1, that was launched in October 2008, made India the first country in the world to complete a successful moon landing in the maiden attempt.
After the launch of Chandrayaan-2, international media praise Indian scientists for their work. Though there was not much activity within the Pakistani news channels and websites regarding the Indian moon mission, some individual journalists reacted to the successful launch of Chandrayaan 2 and also praised Indian scientists’ efforts.
In response to India’s success, Pakistan announced that it will send its first-ever astronaut to space in the year 2022 using close ally China’s satellite launching facilities.
It is evident that Pakistan’s decision came as India successfully launched its second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2.
Fawad Chaudhry who is the Minister for Science and Technology said the selection process of the astronaut for the space mission would initiate 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 shortlisted. 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.
Chaudhry also added that the Pakistani Air Force will play a major role in the selection process for the space mission.
“The process starting from 50 initial selectees will narrow to one person who would go into space,” he said.
