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Virgin Galactic Carries First Pakistani into Space

This May 29, 2018, photo made available by Virgin Galactic shows the company's VSS Unity on its second supersonic flight. (Virgin Galactic via AP)
This May 29, 2018, photo made available by Virgin Galactic shows the company's VSS Unity on its second supersonic flight. (Virgin Galactic via AP)
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Virgin Galactic Carries First Pakistani into Space

This May 29, 2018, photo made available by Virgin Galactic shows the company's VSS Unity on its second supersonic flight. (Virgin Galactic via AP)
This May 29, 2018, photo made available by Virgin Galactic shows the company's VSS Unity on its second supersonic flight. (Virgin Galactic via AP)

An adventurer has become the first Pakistani to travel into space, riding aboard Virgin Galactic’s fifth successful flight in five months.

The US company stated that Namira Salim is the “first Pakistani to visit space”, noting that she is a resident of Monaco and the United Arab Emirates.

Salim, who previously traveled to both poles and has also parachuted over Mount Everest, was among the first customers to buy a ticket with billionaire Richard Branson’s space company.

“I love my title ‘first Pakistani astronaut.’ I wanted to visit space since I was a kid,” Salim told AFP back in 2012.

American Ron Rosano and Briton Trevor Beattie were also passengers on the trip.

Unlike traditional rocket launches into space, Virgin Galactic utilized a specialized, massive aircraft that took off from Spaceport in New Mexico to carry the passenger vessel high in the sky.

Once at 13 kilometers high, the mothership released the spaceplane, which in turn engaged its thrusters to soar into space up to 86 kilometers, while its passengers experienced a few minutes of weightlessness. The craft then glided back down, landing just over an hour after takeoff.

Beth Moses, a Virgin Galactic employee, and two pilots were also aboard the trip dubbed “Galactic 04.”

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Nepal Sharply Hikes Permit Fee for Everest Climbers 

Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2020. (Reuters) 
Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2020. (Reuters) 
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Nepal Sharply Hikes Permit Fee for Everest Climbers 

Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2020. (Reuters) 
Mount Everest, the world highest peak, and other peaks of the Himalayan range are seen through an aircraft window during a mountain flight from Kathmandu, Nepal January 15, 2020. (Reuters) 

Nepal will increase the permit fees for climbing Mount Everest by more than 35%, making the world’s tallest peak more expensive for mountaineers for the first time in nearly a decade, officials said on Wednesday.

Income from permit fees and other spending by foreign climbers is a key source of revenue and employment for the cash-strapped nation, home to eight of the world’s 14 highest mountains, including Mount Everest.

A permit to climb the 8,849 meter (29,032 feet) Mount Everest will cost $15,000, said Narayan Prasad Regmi, director general of the Department of Tourism, announcing a 36% rise in the $11,000 fee that has been in place for nearly a decade.

"The royalty (permit fees) had not been reviewed for a long time. We have updated them now," Regmi told Reuters.

The new rate will come into effect from September and apply for the popular climbing April-May season along the standard South East Ridge, or South Col route, pioneered by New Zealander Sir Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay in 1953.

Fees for the less popular September-November season and the rarely climbed December-February season will also increase by 36%, to $7,500 and $3,750 respectively.

Some expedition organizers said the increase, under discussion since last year, was unlikely to discourage climbers. About 300 permits are issued each year for Everest.

"We expected this hike in permit fees," said Lukas Furtenbach of Austria-based expedition organizer, Furtenbach Adventures.

He said it was an "understandable step" from the government of Nepal. "I am sure the additional funds will be somehow used to protect the environment and improve safety on Everest," Furtenbach said.

Regmi did not say what the extra revenue would be used for.

Hundreds of climbers try to scale Mount Everest and several other Himalayan peaks every year.

Nepal is often criticized by mountaineering experts for allowing too many climbers on Everest and doing little to keep it clean or to ensure climbers' safety.

Regmi said cleaning campaigns were organized to collect garbage and rope fixing as well as other safety measures were undertaken regularly.

Climbers returning from Everest say the mountain is becoming increasingly dry and rocky with less snow or other precipitation, which experts say could be due to global warming or other environmental changes.