ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
Pakistani astronaut to join China’s Shenzhou-24 missionPakistan
A Pakistani astronaut will become the first foreign visitor to China’s space station, flying on the Shenzhou-24 mission as a payload specialist.
Share:
A Pakistani astronaut will join China’s Shenzhou-24 crewed mission to the country’s space station, becoming the first foreign visitor to the station, the China Manned Space Agency said on Saturday.
The astronaut will take part in the mission as a payload specialist, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, citing the agency. After completing a short-term flight in orbit, the astronaut will return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft.
ADاشتہار / AdvertisementGoogle Ad
The mission will mark the first joint flight involving Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China’s crewed space programme, the agency said. It is being carried out as part of bilateral cooperation under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese state media reported.
China has not identified the astronaut who will make the flight, and Beijing has not announced a date for the mission. The announcement on Saturday confirmed that a Pakistani astronaut would take part, but did not name the individual or give a launch schedule.
Two Pakistani pilots, Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, have spent months training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing for a mission, a Pakistani space agency official told Reuters in September. Neither the Chinese agency nor the Pakistani side has said which of the two will fly.
Selection began under a 2025 agreement
The flight follows a cooperation agreement signed by China and Pakistan in February 2025 in Islamabad, covering the selection and training of Pakistani astronauts and their participation in Chinese space station missions. The agreement formally launched the selection process in Pakistan.
After a three-stage selection and assessment process, two Pakistani reserve astronauts were chosen, according to the China Manned Space Agency. Both completed their training in China and passed the required evaluation. One of them will carry out the crewed flight, while the other will serve as a backup, the agency said.
The arrangement makes Pakistan the first country to send an astronaut to China’s space station under the cooperation programme. The station, known as Tiangong, has previously been visited only by Chinese astronauts.
As a payload specialist, the Pakistani astronaut will work alongside the Chinese crew during the short stay in orbit. The Chinese agency has not published further details of the work planned for the flight, or of how long the stay in orbit will last beyond describing it as short-term.
The announcement was reported by Chinese state media on Saturday, and was also carried by the Xinhua news agency.
Related Coverage
