Down-to-earth hopes of a woman aiming for orbit

Tahira Yaqoob

• Last Updated: December 13. 2008 9:30AM UAE / December 13. 2008 5:30AM GMT

DUBAI // She has raised the UAE flag at both poles and is the first woman from the Emirates to train as an astronaut, but Namira Salim’s greatest ambition is more down to earth.

Pakistan-born Miss Salim, 37, has lived in the UAE for 20 years and is preparing to leave the Earth’s atmosphere as the only space tourist from a GCC country on one of the first commercial sub-orbital flights. After that, one frontier remains.

“I would love to have a companion and children. I do feel it is missing in my life but I have always wanted to save myself for a soulmate,” says Miss Salim.

“I realised in my late 20s that is an important element in life and so vital in old age. It is not a good idea to go against nature.

“I have seen the world and been on my own but would like to meet my soulmate. You cannot predict when it happens or be too idealistic, but I think I have high standards in terms of the values a person has.

“He would not have to be an adventurer… he does not have to jump out of planes, just as long as he does not mind if I do.”

Miss Salim’s adventurous streak first emerged when she decided to take flying lessons while studying for a master’s degree in international affairs at Columbia University, New York. After she graduated she founded the Pakistani branch of Aiesec, a worldwide student organisation offering opportunities to work and study abroad.

Miss Salim completed a scuba diving course in the Bahamas, although her conservative Muslim parents, Salim Nasir and Nahid Salim, accompanied her on the boat for her night dive because they were unwilling to let her go alone.

She was then trained as a pilot in a Cessna.

Miss Salim travelled to the North Pole in April last year and the South Pole in January this year, with the Dh150,000 (US$41,000) for the expeditions funded by her father.

When she hoisted the UAE and Pakistani flags at both poles, she was the first woman from the Emirates and the first Pakistani national to do so.

Her latest escapade involved trekking for 10 days in Nepal in October and, despite having never skydived before, embarking on a tandem jump from the world’s highest drop zone in front of Mt Everest, just short of the 29,029-foot peak.

For her seat on one of the inaugural space flights, Miss Salim beat 44,000 people to get into the Virgin Galactic Founders Club, which has 100 members. She has completed the first stage of training, practising for zero-gravity conditions in a giant centrifugal simulator.

Founders Club members, who each paid $200,000, are expected to go in groups of six on flights, scheduled to blast off early next year, which will briefly soar into space before returning to Earth.

“I grew up star-gazing and was always inspired by the stars and the beauty of the night skies,” said Miss Salim, who has also forged a career as an artist and sculptor.

“From the time when I was little, I wanted to touch the ocean floor and reach the heights of the skies. I wanted to go to both extremes and would spend every evening gazing at the sky.That adventurous streak has always been there. I am not an outdoors girl but I have always wanted to explore the mysteries of the universe.”

Miss Salim’s feats have seen her become a role model for women throughout the Middle East and her homeland.

When her name was announced on the space tourist shortlist in 2006, Tariq Azeem, the then-Pakistani minister of state for information and broadcasting, said the world would witness Pakistani women rivalling men in all fields.

“We have a daughter of our country who will take our flag into space. Talented Pakistanis like Namira will show the world the potential our people possess,” Mr Azeem said.

Miss Salim, who lives in the family home in Emirates Hills but also has a base in Monaco, said: “The most tangible benefit is seeing women achieving more. I have been very lucky but there are girls in Pakistan who cannot do what they want. If through my adventures they achieve even small steps, such as going abroad to study or having a job, that is a good thing.

“I want to make a difference and inspire people. I love to do things that test my limits and give me more confidence.”

Being a pioneer does not come without risks. Last year Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against Nilofer Bakhtiar, the country’s tourism minister, accusing her of obscenity when, after a charity skydive for victims of the 2005 earthquake, she hugged her male instructor.

Although Mrs Bakhtiar’s offer to resign was turned down, the 45-year-old married politician complained bitterly that her cabinet colleagues had failed to back her or protect her from death threats.

But Karachi-born Miss Salim said while her father, a retired Pakistani army colonel who runs a building equipment firm in Dubai, sometimes struggled with her independence, he backed her ventures.

“I am totally supported by my parents, even if they think it is out of the norm,” she said. “They are not always thrilled about it because they think as a woman I need to do more serious things with my life, such as get married and have children. I try to make sure I only do things which will make them proud. I have values my parents taught me and they give me strength. Women are not weak and should not give up on their values to get ahead.

“Some people see me as an independent woman and assume I will be liberated in other ways, but I ensure I do not have a bad reputation as a woman of the world.”

In her 20s while she was caught up in her adventures, Miss Salim resisted her parents’ gentle urging to get married.

But encouraged by the example set by her younger twin brothers, she is now keen to find someone to settle down with.

“One of my brothers has two beautiful children who have brought so much happiness, joy and beauty into our lives,” she said. “When I see them I think, ‘How beautiful it is to have children’. People go to crazy lengths to find a partner but I am only trying indirectly by praying.

“Sometimes I think maybe it is not meant for me, but I am sure I will find my soulmate.”

tyaqoob@thenational.ae