Matters beyond earth: Eager to go to outer space, with China

Yang said China will also welcome foreign astronauts who have received training to work in our future space station.

BEIJING: Chairman of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission Ahmed Bilal has said that if China starts taking foreign astronauts to outer space, we would like to be the first candidate. “We also want to cooperate with China in remote sensing technology and educating the public about space,” the China Daily quoted Bilal. He was in China to attend the five-day United Nations workshop on Human Space Technology, which opened in Beijing on Monday. A total of 150 participants from more than 20 nations and regions attended the conference. “We would like to train astronauts from other countries and organisations that have such a demand, and we would be glad to provide trips to foreign astronauts,” said Yang Liwei, deputy director of China Manned Space Agency. Yang said that China will also welcome foreign astronauts who have received training to work in our future space station.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 20^th, 2013.