ISLAMABAD: Diplomat, artist, and astronaut, Pakistan’s Namira Salim is all set to become the first Pakistani to travel to space.
“I feel honored. Being the ‘First Pakistani Astronaut’ is the most precious title a Pakistani can have,” Salim, 44, told Arab News on Thursday.
In 2005, she was one of the founding members of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic commercial space liner and was announced as one of the shortlisted space tourists from over 44,000 candidates. Subsequently, Pakistan’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting called her the country’s “first astronaut” in 2006.
It is with the Virgin Galactic that Salim is likely to fly to space next year.
Salim launched Space Trust, a non-profit, in 2015 to promote peace through space travel. She believes that “space tourism” can be a game-changer in terms of spreading peace among nations and helping more people achieve their dream of flying among the stars.
“Space Tourism will create an opportunity for the masses to go to space,” she said. “This is quite the opposite of government space programs which, at least at the outset, were known for sending a privileged few, typically military pilots, to space. It was always a male candidate for them!”
Salim started preparing for her upcoming flight in 2007 when she completed training for her suborbital spaceflight at the National Aerospace Training and Research (NASTAR) Center in the United States.
“Suborbital flights are easier on the body because our’s is not going to be a ground-up launch,” she said. “For such flights, even a 90-year-old, who can climb a few flights of stairs comfortably, is considered fit. I trained in the world’s most advanced suborbital spaceflight training center. The training process assessed my ability to tolerate and adapt to increasing gravitational forces and motion sickness. It prepared me for all the profiles I will experience during my potential space flight. The experience was a paradox: At first, it felt like I was being crushed down by a baby elephant; but soon after that, I was floating in the space – as light as a feather!”
Born and raised in Karachi, Salim completed her studies in international business and international affairs from Hofstra University and Columbia University, respectively. She returned to Pakistan to become the founding president of the nation’s first International Association of Students in Economics and Business Management, a cultural exchange program that works with the United Nations.
Salim now splits her time between Dubai and Monaco. She has lived in latter, a tiny city-state along France’s Mediterranean coastline, since 1997 and served Pakistan as an honorary ambassador since 2011 when Prince Albert II, the Sovereign Prince of Monaco, authorized her to practice her function as the first honorary consul of Pakistan to the Principality of Monaco.
Salim has a few other headline-making firsts under her belt, such as being the first Pakistani to visit the North and South poles.
“I wanted to raise the national flag, the flags of my adopted countries, Monaco and the UAE, and my peace flag at all three poles of the world. I wanted to go as far as possible on Earth before breaking orbits,” said Salim.
“Being the first Pakistani at the North and South Poles, as well as the first Asian to skydive [tandem] over Mount Everest in 2008, appears quite mind-blowing to most people, especially in the West where people have an image of Pakistani women as a somewhat timid individual. I never knew that I would one day touch the same pole star which my beloved father first sparked my imagination with.”
Salim had known from a young age that space was the frontier she wanted to cross.
“I was born with the inner knowing that I was going to space one day, as if someone was calling out to me. I’ve always said that space makes my DNA. So it was a childhood dream and it was my beloved father who first introduced me to stars,” said Salim. “One evening, he pointed toward the pole star and navigated me through the northern sky. I instantly took to stars and it is the stars that I made best friends with. Since then, there’s been no looking back.”
Pakistan's Namira Salim hopes to fly to space next year
Pakistan's Namira Salim hopes to fly to space next year
- Arab News talks to “Pakistan’s first astronaut” about her lifelong love of space
- Salim is among a handful of astronauts selected for billionaire Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic flight to space
Pakistan puts border districts on high alert amid Iran protests — official
- The development comes as Iranian authorities try to suppress protests over faltering economy, with over 2,600 killed
- Militancy in Balochistan has declined following the return of nearly 1 million Afghans, the additional chief secretary says
QUETTA: Pakistan has heightened security along districts bordering Iran as violent protests continue to engulf several Iranian cities, a top official in Pakistan’s southwestern Balochistan province said on Thursday, with authorities stepping up vigilance to guard against potential spillover.
The development comes as Iranian authorities try to suppress protests, which began late last month over the country’s faltering economy and the collapse of its currency, with more than 2,600 killed in weeks of violence in the Islamic republic.
The clampdown on demonstrations, the worst since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution, has drawn threats from the United States (US) of a military intervention on behalf of the protesters, raising fears of further tensions in an already volatile region.
Pakistan, which shares a 909-kilometer-long border with Iran in its southwest, has said that it is closely monitoring the situation in the neighboring country and advised its citizens to keep essential travel documents with them amid the unrest.
“The federal government is monitoring the situation regarding what is happening in Iran and the provincial government is in touch with the federal government,” Hamza Shafqaat, an additional chief secretary at the Balochistan Home Department, told
Arab News in an exclusive interview on Thursday.
“As far as the law and order is concerned in all bordering districts with Iran, we are on high alert and as of now, the situation is very normal and peaceful at the border.”
Asked whether Islamabad had suspended cross-border movement and trade with Iran, Shafqaat said trade was ongoing, but movement of tourists and pilgrims had been stopped.
“There were few students stuck in Iran, they were evacuated, and they reached Gwadar,” he said. “Around 200 students are being shifted to their home districts.”
SITUATION ON PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN BORDER
Pakistan’s Balochistan province has long been the site of an insurgency by ethnic Baloch separatists and religiously motivated groups like the Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP). Besides Iran, the province shares more around 1,000-kilometer porous border with Afghanistan.
Islamabad has frequently accused Afghanistan of allowing its soil for attacks against Pakistan, an allegation denied by Kabul. In Oct., Pakistan and Afghanistan engaged in worst border clashes in decades over a surge in militancy in Pakistan. While the neighbors agreed to a ceasefire in Doha that month, relations between them remain tensed.
Asked about the government’s measures to secure the border with Afghanistan, Shafqaat said militancy in the region had declined following the return of nearly 1 million Afghan nationals as part of a repatriation drive Islamabad announced in late 2023.
“There is news that some of them keep on coming back from one border post or some other areas because we share a porous border and it is very difficult to man every inch of this border,” he said.
“On any intervention from the Afghanistan side, our security agencies which are deputed at the border are taking daily actions.”
LAW AND ORDER CHALLENGE
Balochistan witnessed 167 bomb blasts among over 900 militant attacks in 2025, which killed more than 400 people, according to the provincial government’s annual law and order report. But officials say the law-and-order situation had improved as compared to the previous year.
“More than 720 terrorists were killed in 2025 which is a higher number of operations against terrorists in many decades, while over a hundred terrorists were detained by law enforcement agencies in 90,000-plus security operations in Balochistan,” Shafqaat said.
The provincial government often suspended mobile Internet service in the southwestern province on various occasions last year, aimed at ensuring security in Balochistan.
“With that step, I am sure we were able to secure hundreds of lives,” Shafqaat said, adding it was only suspended in certain areas for less than 25 days last year.
“The Internet service through wireless routers remained open for the people in the entire year, we closed mobile Internet only for people on the roads because the government understands the difficulties of students and business community hence we are trying to reduce the closure of mobile Internet.”
