The day has finally come for Namira Salim to achieve her life-long dream of going to space. At 6pm (UAE time) today (October 6), she and two other space tourists will go sub-orbital on a Virgin Galactic flight, boosting the popularisation of space tourism.
Salim – who has been waiting for almost two decades for the commercial spaceflight – is making history as she becomes the first female UAE resident and Pakistan’s first female space tourist.
No less than Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, caretaker Prime Minister of Pakistan, wished her safe voyage and success. He tweeted on Wednesday: Good Luck Namira Salim @namirasalim. I wish you success when you’re ready to make history on 06 October by becoming the 1st Pakitani woman to travel to space in the #Galactic04. By proving their mettle as trailblazers in multiple fields, Pakistani women are making the whole nation proud.
Salim replied that she is “proud to fly the #national flag high in #space”. She is also representing the national flags of the UAE and Monaco (as she is a long-time resident of these two countries) in today’s space flights.
Astronaut 019
Salim, who will be known as Virgin Galactic Astronaut 019, will be joined by Ron Rosano (Virgin Galactic Astronaut 017), who is another space tourist and astronomy educator from Muir Beach, California; and British national Trevor Beattie (Virgin Galactic Astronaut 018), an advertising executive and founding partner, chairman and creative director of Beattie McGuinness.
The trio will be led by mission commander Kelly Latimer and pilot C.J. Sturckow. will be at the helm of VSS Unity. Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor Beth Moses will join the three private passengers in the cabin.
Three crew and space tourists are scheduled to launch on a suborbital trajectory aboard Virgin Galactic’s reusable space plane, VSS Unity. Takeoff of Unity’s carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, is at 6pm (UAE time) from Virgin Galactic’s Spaceport America in New Mexico.
On their way up, the passengers will experience up to four times the force of the Earth’s gravity, known as 4G. Then, they will enter almost zero gravity and experience four minutes of weightlessness aboard the spaceplane VSS Unity.
