By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: A Pakistani astronaut is to become the first foreigner to visit China’s Tiangong space station, Beijing’s manned space agency has announced.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Saturday that the astronaut, a payload specialist, would fly on the Shenzhou-24 mission. State media said it would be the first joint flight involving Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China’s manned space programme.
The agency did not name the astronaut or give a departure date, although the mission is expected to take place by the end of the year. In October, Pakistan’s planning minister, Ahsan Iqbal, told a ceremony that the flight would take place on 25 November.
The Pakistani crew member will make a short orbital flight and return to Earth aboard Shenzhou-23, which arrived at the station in May, according to the CMSA.
In April, the agency said Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud had been selected to begin training in China. The plan was that one of them would be chosen for the flight. The training, which Chinese state media said was alongside Chinese counterparts, covered hands-on operational skills and “intensive Chinese language instruction”.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif met both men in April and congratulated them, calling the mission a “matter of pride for the entire nation”. He praised their “round-the-clock efforts” and said he hoped the flight would “add new dimensions to the brotherly relationship between Pakistan and China”.
The flight stems from an agreement signed in February 2025 by Pakistan’s space agency, Suparco, and the CMSA. It set up a Chinese government training programme for Pakistani astronauts. Two were to train in China, with one to fly to Tiangong.
The partnership reflects a decades-old “all-weather” friendship between the two countries. China is Pakistan’s largest trading partner and a major foreign investor.
For Beijing, the flight also advances its wider ambitions in space. China has invested heavily in its space programme in recent years, narrowing the gap with its main rival, the United States, and aims to land astronauts on the Moon by 2030. Nasa is targeting a crewed lunar landing in 2028.
China has been shut out of the International Space Station since 2011, when the US barred Nasa from collaborating with Chinese space agencies. Since then, Beijing has sought partners for its own programme, including Pakistan.
Reports of the announcement also said China would deploy Jinnah-1, Pakistan’s first lunar rover. The 35kg (77lb) vehicle carries scientific equipment to study plasma behaviour, radiation and the composition of lunar soil.
Copyright © 2021 Independent Pakistan | All rights reserved
