Pakistan to Send First Foreign Astronaut to China Space Station
A Pakistani astronaut will join the Shenzhou-24 mission as the first foreign national to visit China's Tiangong space station this November.
The China Manned Space Agency announced that a Pakistani national will become the first foreign astronaut to visit the Tiangong space station. Joining the Shenzhou-24 crewed mission as a payload specialist, the astronaut is scheduled to launch on November 25 and return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft on November 30.
While the agency has not yet specified which individual will fly and who will serve as backup, candidates Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud have been training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing. The mission follows a February 2025 agreement between the governments of China and Pakistan to establish a training program for Pakistani astronauts as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif described the mission as a defining moment for the nation. This flight marks only the second time a Pakistani national has entered space, following Namira Salim's 2023 suborbital flight with Virgin Galactic. Lin Xiqiang, chief of the China Manned Space Agency, stated that the participation reflects deep-rooted ties between the two countries and contributes to a broader vision of peaceful space exploration.
