Namira Salim

Who is Namira Salim?

Namira Salim is a Pakistani explorer and artist and the first Pakistani to have reached the North Pole in April 2007 and the South Pole in January 2008. She also holds the distinction of being the first Asian and first Pakistani to skydive over Mount Everest during the historic "First Everest Skydives 2008. Namira, being the only Pakistani member of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, the world's first commercial space liner, is widely known as the first Pakistani to travel into space.

She was short-listed among 100 space tourists in 2005 out of 44,000 candidates and launched personally to the world press by Sir Richard Branson himself in March 2006. Subsequently, in August 2006, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of Pakistan officially launched Namira as the "First Pakistani Astronaut" who has said she hopes her achievements are an inspiration for Pakistani women.

In October 2007, Namira trained and qualified for her suborbital Spaceflight at the NASTAR Center in the United States, under the supervision of Virgin Galactic. In February 2008, she presented her Sub-Orbital Spaceflight Training Certificate to former President Pervez Musharraf.