AT PENPPOINT
The agreement between Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPPARCO) and China’s Manned Space Agency (MSA) has been made, to have a Pakistani payload specialist on the Chinese Space Station. The agreement is for two Pakistanis to go for astronaut training, and for one to be further selected as a payload specialist.
This may seem a blip on the screen of what is suddenly a vast amount of activity in space. Part of the reason is that the private sector is getting involved. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is not just putting space tourists in space, but is also involved not just in NASA’s planned crewed landing on the moon, but also a crewed mission to Mars. Musk is not alone. Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is also involved. NASA has involved the private sector in its ventures, which include a return to the moon, where there has not been a manned landing since 1972, after the first landing in 1969.
The scramble for outer space has seen India getting into the act. The Indian Space Reseàrch Organization has set a target of crewed space flight, after having carried out a successful unmanned moon landing. In fact, India has already had a citizen in space, Sqn Ldr Rkesh Sharma, who retired from the Indian Air Force as a wing commander. Now four group captains have been selected for the Indian space mission. However, two of the four have been selected to go on a US space mission, which indicates a level of cooperation that Pakistan has not got even when it was the ‘most allied ally’.
That description came during the Zia era, when both the USA and the USSR competed in giving various allied countries their first astronauts or cosmonauts. The USA used to give allied nations flights aboard the space shuttles to make them astronauts, while cosmonauts were made by allies flying on Soyuz rockets to the Mir space station. One of the countries given a cosmonaut included India and then Syria. However, the USA countered, at least in the Arab world, by giving one Saudi Arabian a flight on the shuttle.
At present, both astronauts and cosmonauts are created by a visit to the International Space Station, a joint USA-USSR collaboration, being a combination of the planned US Freedom space station, and the Soviet space station Mir-2. At present, it is the only presence of humanity in outer space.
It indicated the overwhelming cost of space exploration. India will spend and Rs 100 billion, or $1.1 billion on the Gagyaan programme, with a crewed flight estimated next year. Blue Origin, the company founded by Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, sells tickets on its flights, which take passengers into space briefly, thus qualifying them as space travellers. It is priced at $150,000 per seat, though no flights are scheduled currently.
Pakistan’s astronaut will technically be a taikonaut. There is apparently a code to be followed: all those who have flown on US missions are astronauts, those who have flown on Russian missions are cosmonauts, while those who have been on Chinese missions are taikonauts. Therefore, the Pakistani who goes into space will be a taikonaut.
It should be seen as a beginning, not so much for the nation, as for all Mankind. There are things happening in space, from the USA’s forming a Space Force to the planned exploitation of the mineral resources of other planets. Pakistani cannot afford not to take part, and that means putting someone in space, even if it means hitching a ride.
It is a little more complicated. The term ‘vyomanaut’ is applied not just to the only Indian to go into space, Squadron Leader Sharma but also to the alternate, then Wing Commander Ravish Malhotra, who completed the cosmonaut training. (While Sharma retired as a wing commander, Malhotra reached the rank of air commodore). Interestingly, both were from Punjab, Sharma being from Patiala and Malhotra born in Lahore. The region seems to be starstruck, for the only woman of Indian origin in space, Kalpana Chawla, who died with six others in the 2003 Columbia spa shuttle disaster, though a US citizen, had been born in Karnal, which is now in Haryana state, but which was part of Punjab before Partition. While the Indian space travellers now scheduled to man the crewed mission will probably be called vyomanauts, their geographic origin is not restricted to Punjab, but they hail from all over India.
However, their all being air force officers is part of the spacefaring tradition. Both astronauts and cosmonauts included a number of test pilots, who were usually air force officers. `There was a smattering of aeronautical engineers, and the USA pioneered the process of recruiting from other sectors. It recruited a number of naval aviators, perhaps inevitable for a country with such a large naval air arm.
However, astronauts have not done exceptionally in the US or Soviet air forces. Only one made it to three-star rank, A number made it to major general, but most seem to have retired as colonels. A couple made it to rear admiral in the USA. The most successful astronaut must be John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth. Though as a Marine pilot he retired as a colonel, not only was he elected to the US Senate (where he served for a quarter of a century), he even made a run for President in 1984.
The most successful cosmonaut would be Jügderdemidiin Gürragchaa of Outer Mongolia. In 1981, he had his trip to space on the Salyut-6 space station, and when he returned home, he became first the chief of staff of the Air Defence Force (as a major general), and then defence minister.from 2000 to 2004.
The USA also pioneered the idea of civilians as astronauts, already having a readily available pool of test pilots and aerospace engineers. The USSR also followed, though there remained a heavier component of military aviators, there have been a number of civilians in the ranks of cosmonauts.
It is worth noting that China has placed all its taikonauts, even the civilians, in the People’s Liberation Army Astronauts Corps. That might influence the choice of a Pakistani astronaut.
It would be interesting to see if Pakistan gave its spaceman and his alternate a special name. Even though it should perhaps apply only to citizens of a country with its own space programme, rather than those of one which used another country’s space programme, India has coined a name for its space travellers, even though the country does not have an independent space programme. There is also the example of the najmonauts, which is the name given to all Arab-origin space travellers (Saudis, Emiratis and a Syrian), who travelled either on US shuttles, the ISS (the Saudis and Emiratis) or the Soviet Mir (the Syrian). Najmonaut is actually quite a good name for Pakistani space travellers, and would indicate a vision of A joint Pakistan and Arab collaboration on a manned mission capability.
Otherwise, the Indian example could be followed. ‘Vyoma’ is the Sanskrit word for ‘air’, hence Vyomasena (Air Force) and vyomanaut. The PAF is Pak Fizaia, which would give fizanaut. This is also of Arabic origin, and would probably be preferred by the PAF. There would be an assumption that a PAF officer would be selected. Interestingly, another meaning of ‘fiza’ is ‘spatial’. True, ‘najam’means star, but it may well be a direct translation of ‘astronaut’, which means in Latin ‘star-traveller. ‘Taikonaut’ comes from the Chinese taikong, which means ‘outer space’.
Whatever, he is called, and whichever service he belongs to, while going into space seems to give an advantage, it does not give a right. It also depends on how the country reacts to the spacefarer. It is not quite like winning an Olympic gold, a sports World Cup, or even building an atomic bomb.
It should be seen as a beginning, not so much for the nation, as for all Mankind. There are things happening in space, from the USA’s forming a Space Force to the planned exploitation of the mineral resources of other planets. Pakistani cannot afford not to take part, and that means putting someone in space, even if it means hitching a ride.
