ISLAMABAD, Feb. 8 – Aasiya Ismail, a 17-year-old girl from Islamabad Model School for Girls, had the chance to express her thoughts and questions to Chinese astronaut and got reply on the ceremony of the return Pakistan’s seeds from the Chinese space station held today at COMSTECH Auditorium, Islamabad.
In her letter, Aasiya Ismail wrote, “I have been a student of science for almost ten years now. Science is a discipline that is a form of art for me”.
She also asked multiple scientific questions regarding the Pakistan-China space breeding project and life in space.
“I’m so happy to receive your letter and get to know you are interested in science”, Liu Boming, a veteran astronaut who has carried out manned mission twice and conducted China’s first spacewalk, says in a video reply in which he shares his space flight experience.
In 2008, he, together with his colleagues Mr. Zhai Zhigang and Mr. Jing Haipeng, was sent to space. The shocking experience inspired him to improvise a line of poem, “overlooking the homeland, the same global village, looking across the Sun and the Moon, the same space city”.
In 2021, he flied to space again, and became one of the first group of astronauts stationed in the Chinese Space Station. The Shenzhou 12 manned space mission also sets many other China’s firsts: the first long-term astronaut residence, the first manned autonomous rapid rendezvous and docking, the first comprehensive orbit verification of controlled bio-protection technology in the regenerative environment…
“Among them, the most memorable one to me is the extravehicular activity, which allowed me to see the earth from a larger and wider perspective”, he recalled vividly.
It was on this space trip that he realized his biggest dream, to be part of China’s first human-robotic arm combination, for which he had been working hard for 13 years from 42 to 55 years old.
He also recommended the live broadcasting program Tiangong Classroom to Aasiya Ismail, which can answer many of her questions.
“The Shenzhou 12 mission carried the national flag of Pakistan, and the Shenzhou 14 mission carried Pakistan’s plant seeds, which fully showcase profound friendship between China and Pakistan”, he said.
In conclusion, he encouraged Aasiya Ismail to continue her scientific journey with bravery and perseverance and play her role for Pakistan-China cooperation.
It is learned that 7 kinds of medicinal plant seeds were brought to space in China’s Shenzhou 14 mission. They are subject to further study after returning to the earth.
