A Pakistani astronaut will fly aboard China’s Shenzhou-24 spacecraft and become the first foreign national to visit the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Saturday, November 7, 2026. It will be the first joint crewed flight involving Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China’s human spaceflight programme.
What happened?
The China Manned Space Agency said the Pakistani astronaut will join the Shenzhou-24 crew as a payload specialist for a short orbital flight, and will then return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft, which docked at the Tiangong station in May 2026. The announcement was reported by China’s official news agency Xinhua.
Key details
- No launch date has been announced, but the mission is expected to take place by the end of 2026.
- The astronaut who will fly has not yet been named. Two Pakistani candidates, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, began training alongside their Chinese counterparts earlier this year; one will receive the flight assignment and the other will serve as backup.
- The flight is part of an agreement signed by China and Pakistan in February 2025, under which Pakistani astronauts will carry out short-term missions with Chinese counterparts over the next few years.
- As a payload specialist, the Pakistani astronaut will focus on scientific experiments and equipment carried into space.
- The Tiangong space station began operating in 2021 and was fully assembled in 2022.
What it means for people in Pakistan
The flight is a milestone for Pakistan’s space programme and for the country’s young scientists and engineers, showing that Pakistani astronauts can now take part in crewed space missions. It also opens the door to Pakistani science experiments being carried out in orbit.
