Pakistan’s First Astronaut Heads to Space with ChinaPakistan

“We stand ready to work with the Pakistani side to carry forward our traditional friendship, deepen cooperation in space and other fields, and bring bilateral relations to new heights,” Guo said at the briefing, according to reports of his remarks.

The announcement that a Pakistani astronaut will join the Shenzhou-24 mission crew as a payload specialist, complete a short flight in orbit and then return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft, has put the partnership in the spotlight. According to Chinese officials, it will be the first joint flight involving Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China’s manned space programme, and the first time a foreign astronaut visits China’s Tiangong space station.

Two Pakistani pilots, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, were chosen to train in China for the mission. Which of the two will make the flight has not yet been announced.

A partnership reaching beyond Earth

The flight follows an agreement signed in Islamabad in February 2025 between Pakistan’s space agency, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, and the China Manned Space Agency, covering astronaut selection, training and participation in Chinese space station missions. The two candidates have been training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre in Beijing.

Guo also underlined that China supports the peaceful use of outer space and active international cooperation there, describing the exploration of the universe as a shared pursuit of humanity. He noted that China and Pakistan are all-weather strategic cooperative partners, and called the coming flight yet another key outcome of bilateral cooperation in the year marking the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Space cooperation between the two countries already extends well beyond the astronaut programme. Pakistan has flown payloads on Chinese lunar missions, and the two sides are working together on a Pakistani-built lunar rover planned for China’s Chang’e-8 mission, expected around 2028. Pakistan’s planning minister, Ahsan Iqbal, has also said the country aims to land on the Moon by 2035, with Chinese cooperation helping to advance that ambition.

China, meanwhile, has invested heavily in its space programme in recent years and aims to land its own astronauts on the Moon by 2030. For Pakistan, the coming mission offers a chance to send a person, along with home-grown research, to a working laboratory in orbit. Pakistan’s planning minister has pointed to a launch later in November, although the Chinese space agency has not confirmed a date, saying only that the flight is expected before the end of the year.