Pakistan's first woman astronaut congratulates India on Chandrayaan 2 mission

Namira Salim, the first Pakistani woman astronaut, has congratulated the Indian Space and Research Organisation (ISRO) on the Chandrayaan-2 mission and its historic attempt to make a landing on the Moon.

In a statement to digital science magazine Scientia, Salim said “I congratulate India and ISRO on its historic attempt to make a successful soft landing of the Vikram Lander at the South Pole of the Moon.

“The Chandaryaan 2 lunar mission is indeed a giant leap for South Asia which not only makes the region but the entire global space industry proud,” she added.

Vikram Lander exhibited normal performance up to an altitude of 2.1 kilometres from the moon until ISRO lost signals.

Salim further said, “Regional developments in the Space sector in South Asia are remarkable and no matter which nation leads — in space, all political boundaries dissolve and in space — what unites us, overrides, what divides us on Earth.”

She is the first Pakistani to have travelled to the North and South poles and the first Asian to skydive (in tandem) from Mount Everest. Salim hoisted a peace flag on behalf of the nation at the two poles of the world. 

India lost contact with its unmanned spacecraft just before it was due to land on the Moon on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s ambitious low-cost lunar programme.

India had hoped to become just the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to successfully land on the Moon.