Inspiration: Diving glory

A long-held "streak of craziness" made her jump from near the top of the world's highest mountain, conquer the poles, fly a Cessna and qualify as an astronaut.

Namira Salim from Pakistan, who lives in Dubai and also has a business in Monaco, is an adventurer, artist and a "global citizen".

"I never skydived before. I didn't want to spoil the fun with a small sky dive. But now, no sky dive will be the same," she said from her Emirates Hills home.

On October 11, she took a tandem dive from the world's highest drop zone, staking a claim of being the first Asian woman to jump near the world's tallest peak in the Himalayas. The drop point, at an altitude of 29,480 feet, was in front of Mount Everest (29,029 feet above sea level).

"We had to get up early and trek up to 14,000 feet for around 10 days for six to eight hours to get used to the terrain. People normally dive from 12,000 feet. But, our landing itself was at 12,350 feet."

Salim, now in her mid-30s, completed her master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia University in 1996 before establishing her own line of decorative arts and collectables called ‘A Soul Affair'.

The adventurous spirit

Her adventurous streak began early in life. One day, she went to a flight school and "flew in a Cessna 156 on my own. This is the risk-taking, non-conventional and out-of-the-box part of me".

Two years ago, Salim garnered her share of fame in Pakistan and the UAE by becoming one of the founders of Virgin Galactic, Richard Branson's dream project for space flight and tourism.

In March 2006, she became the first female astronaut from Dubai whose name was announced to take part in Virgin Galactic's first commercial orbital space flight.

In October 2007, she got a Sub Orbital Space Flight certificate from the Nastar Centre in Phila-delphia, making her Dubai's first female astronaut along with first Emirati astronaut Ebrahim Sharaf.

In July this year, Salim was in California's Mojave Desert for the unveiling of Virgin Galactic's mothership VMS Eve, one of the two spacecraft that will send private astronauts into space for $200,000 (Dh734,618) each – and might potentially change the economics of human space flight. Nasa spends an average of $450 million (Dh1.65 billion) per Space Shuttle mission, with typically seven astronauts on board. VMS Eve will blast off into space with paying passengers in 2009.

"I want to be an inspiration to women," Salim said.

Record facts

• Adventurer, artist and honorary tourism ambassador of Pakistan
• The first woman from Dubai and Pakistan to conquer both the poles (North Pole in 2007 and South Pole in January 2008)
• The first woman from Dubai to qualify as an astronaut (October 2007)
• Set to become the first woman from the UAE and Pakistan to fly into space aboard the Virgin Galactic, expected to blast off into orbit in early 2009