A Pakistani astronaut will join China’s space station as a payload specialist on the upcoming Shenzhou-24 mission as the Chinese state media reported on Saturday.
The milestone marks the first foreign visitor to China’s space station and the first joint spaceflight featuring both Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China’s manned space program.
The mission is part of bilateral space diplomacy under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. In February 2025, China and Pakistan signed an agreement covering astronaut selection, training and participation in Chinese space station flights. Following a rigorous three-stage assessment, two Pakistani pilots Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud were selected as candidates and have been training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing. While one will carry out the primary flight mission and the second will serve as a backup.
While Beijing has not yet identified the primary astronaut or announced the exact launch date, the China Manned Space Agency confirmed that after completing a short-term in-orbit stay the Pakistani astronaut will return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft.
