Pakistan’s first astronaut to board Chinese space station

Pakistan is all set to make history in its space exploration as one Pakistani astronaut will join the Shenzhou-24 crewed flight mission as a payload specialist, APP news agency quoted the China Manned Space Agency as saying on Saturday.

The mission will mark the first joint spaceflight involving Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China’s manned space programme, representing a significant milestone in China-Pakistan space cooperation. After completing a short-term stay in orbit, the astronaut will return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft, Gwadar Pro reported on Saturday.

In February 2025, China and Pakistan signed a cooperation agreement in Islamabad to select and train Pakistani astronauts for missions to China’s space station. Following three rounds of rigorous selection and assessment, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, were selected as reserve astronauts. They subsequently joined China’s astronaut training programme to prepare for the mission.

After completing the required training and evaluations, one of the two candidates will carry out the crewed flight mission, while the other will serve as a backup.

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on October 18 said Pakistan’s first astronaut would embark on a space mission from China’s space centre on November 25.

Addressing the concluding ceremony of World Space Week in Narowal, he had said Pakistan aimed to achieve a lunar landing by 2035.

Iqbal had said cooperation with China would help Pakistan reach new heights in space exploration.