Pak's science minister calls India's space missions 'irresponsible'

Pakistan's Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry, a known motormouth, on Tuesday asked the international organisations to take notice of what he called India's "irresponsible" space missions. "India is becoming a huge source of Space debris, irresponsible space missions of India are dangrous for whole eco system, needs serious notice by Int organizations (sic)," Chaudhry, considered to be a close aide of Prime Minister Imran Khan, tweeted.

His tweet came hours after NASA said its Moon-orbiting spacecraft has found the debris of Chandrayaan 2's lander Vikram on the surface of the Moon, nearly three months after India's ambitious mission made a hard landing near the uncharted lunar south pole. Pakistan's national space agency Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) was set up in 1961. The agency launched its first communication satellite 50 years later with help from China.

Pakistan also plans to send its first astronaut into space by 2022.