National Flag of Pakistan Returns from Its Space Journey

May 29,2020

A ceremony was held today at the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) for the “hatch opening” of Tian’he spacecraft module which re-entered Earth on 8 May 2020.

In another significant milestone of Pakistan-China bilateral space cooperation, a national flag of Pakistan was sent to outer space onboard Tian’he on 5 May 2020. The space module was launched into outer space by a Long March 5B rocket. This outer space journey is part of China’s endeavours to develop a new generation space station by China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

The Embassy of Pakistan in China had handed over the national flag of Pakistan for the space voyage to CMSA in Beijing on 11 February 2020. In today’s ceremony, Mr. Hao Chun, Director General CMSA, handed back the flag to Ambassador Naghmana A. Hashmi, Ambassador of Pakistan to China.

Speaking on the occasion, Ambassador Naghmana A. Hashmi congratulated CMSA, CAST and other Chinese research institutions for the successful mission of Tian’he. Recalling excellent bilateral cooperation between the two countries in outer space ventures, Ambassador Hashmi referred to launching of PRSS-1 and PakTES-1 satellites in July 2018. The two sides are engaged in regular technology transfer, and exchange of experts and delegations. Ambassador Hashmi hoped that China and Pakistan would further build on their cooperation in space exploration, leading to the travel of first Pakistani astronaut to space in 2022. For this purpose, Pakistan and China signed an Agreement for Cooperation in Human Space Flight Activities in April 2019.