Nida Fatima, a 7th-grade Pakistani student, and students from different schools in Pakistan as well as other member countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) got a chance to interact with Chinese astronauts in space through virtual mode in an event held at the Chinese Embassy in Islamabad on April 20.
“It motivated me to dream about being an astronaut. A Chinese astronaut explained his lifestyle in the spaceship and about the Chinese space station in a very detailed way. I will study more about China’s space program and make a career in space sciences,” Fatima said.
The students hailed the astronaut with warm applause as he appeared on the screen, and some of them slightly jumped from their seats in excitement as it was the first experience for every one of them to talk to and listen to an astronaut in space.
President of the Pakistan Science Foundation Shahid Mahmood Baig noted, “The objective of the ceremony was to inspire and motivate the Pakistani students toward science, especially space science, because this is a very special science and very few students go into this discipline in Pakistan,” he added.
Baig said Pakistan has good cooperation with China in the field of science, and they have been doing a number of joint projects for the past years. They also seek cooperation from China to help Pakistani students gain more knowledge about space sciences.
