BEIJING — A Pakistani astronaut will fly aboard China's Shenzhou-24 crewed spacecraft and become the first foreign national ever to visit the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Saturday, 7 November 2026. The Pakistani crew member will travel as a payload specialist, according to the announcement reported by Xinhua, marking the first joint flight of Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's crewed space programme.
The mission is the product of a cooperation agreement signed in Islamabad in February 2025 between Pakistan's national space agency, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), and CMSA, covering astronaut selection, training and participation in Chinese space station missions.
Illustration: A Shenzhou spacecraft approaches the Tiangong space station above Earth. This is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of the actual spacecraft or station.
What Happened
China's crewed space agency announced on Saturday, 7 November 2026, that a Pakistani astronaut will join the Shenzhou-24 flight as a payload specialist, according to Xinhua. The announcement was reported the same day by the Associated Press, via phys.org, and by TBS News. The Pakistani crew member will be the first foreign national to board Tiangong, the three-module station that has been China's home in orbit since 2021.
The flight is a first in more than one sense. It will be the first time a non-Chinese astronaut has flown on a Chinese crewed mission, and the first time a foreign national has visited the Tiangong station. Xinhua described the mission as the first joint flight of Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's crewed space programme — a phrase that underlines how deliberately China has kept its human spaceflight programme a national endeavour until now.
The Pakistani astronaut will not be a passenger in the ordinary sense. As a payload specialist, the crew member is expected to carry out scientific work during the stay aboard Tiangong. CMSA has not published a detailed list of the experiments the Pakistani astronaut will perform. What is known is that the stay will be brief: rather than remaining aboard for a full crew rotation of around six months, the visitor will return to Earth on Shenzhou-23, the spacecraft that arrived at Tiangong in May 2026.
That return plan tells its own story about how the mission is structured. Shenzhou-23's crew will, in effect, hand over a seat on their own ride home — a practical arrangement for a short visit, and one that mirrors how visiting astronauts have flown to other stations in the past.
Nor has CMSA named which of the two Pakistani candidates will fly. Two pilots, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, were selected in April 2026 after a three-stage selection process, and both have been training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing, including intensive instruction in the Chinese language. One will fly aboard Shenzhou-24; the other will serve as backup. CMSA has not said which one has been chosen.
The three-stage selection process began after the February 2025 agreement between SUPARCO and CMSA, and the training in Beijing has covered the full range of preparation for a crewed mission, from spacecraft systems to the language skills needed to work alongside Chinese crewmates in orbit. The intensive Chinese language instruction is a telling detail: it suggests the Pakistani astronaut is expected to work closely with the Chinese crew, not simply ride along.
Background
China's Tiangong space station has operated in low Earth orbit since 2021, and so far only Chinese taikonauts have worked aboard it. The station, whose name means "Heavenly Palace", was built after China was excluded from participation in the International Space Station, and its construction marked China's arrival as the third country, after the United States and Russia, to operate its own crewed orbital outpost. Crews of three taikonauts have rotated through the station on roughly six-month missions.
The Shenzhou programme is the human spaceflight system that serves Tiangong. Each Shenzhou spacecraft carries a crew of three to the station and returns them to Earth, launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Shenzhou-23, which will bring the Pakistani visitor home, launched on 24 May 2026 from Jiuquan. Its three-person crew included Hong Kong's first astronaut, Lai Ka-ying — a sign that China was already widening the circle of people who fly aboard its spacecraft before it opened a seat to a foreign national.
The agreement that made the Pakistani flight possible was signed in Islamabad in February 2025 between SUPARCO and CMSA. It covered astronaut selection, training and participation in Chinese space station missions. Pakistan's space programme is far smaller than China's, and the agreement gave SUPARCO a route to crewed spaceflight it could not have achieved on its own. For China, it offered a partner for a first international crewed flight — a country with which it already has deep political and economic ties.
Pakistan's own history in space has, until now, been a story of firsts achieved by individuals rather than by the national programme. Namira Salim became the first Pakistani citizen to travel to space when she flew on a suborbital Virgin Galactic flight, Galactic 04, on 6 October 2023, reaching an altitude of about 87 kilometres (54 miles) above Earth before returning to the ground in New Mexico. That was a private, commercial flight lasting minutes. Shenzhou-24 is different in kind: an orbital flight, conducted by a national space agency, with the astronaut travelling as a trained crew member to a space station. It will be the first time a Pakistani has flown in orbit.
Illustration: Two trainee astronauts in a training centre prepare for a crewed space mission. This is an AI-generated illustration featuring fictional trainees, not a photograph of the actual candidates.
The timing also fits a wider pattern in China's space ambitions. China is preparing for its first crewed landing on the Moon by 2030, while the United States, through NASA, aims to land astronauts on the Moon in 2028. Against that background, a first international crew member aboard Tiangong is more than a bilateral gesture: it signals that China intends its space station, and eventually its lunar programme, to be open to partners. It also matters because the International Space Station is expected to be retired around 2030, after which Tiangong may be the only crewed station in orbit for a period. Flying a foreign astronaut is a different order of cooperation from hosting an experiment: it requires shared training, shared procedures and a level of trust that goes beyond a science payload. Shenzhou-24 is the first test of that trust.
Why It Matters
The Shenzhou-24 mission matters first because it breaks a barrier that has defined China's crewed space programme since its first human flight in 2003. For more than two decades, every Chinese crewed mission has carried only Chinese citizens. China built its human spaceflight capability largely on its own, after being excluded from the International Space Station, and it had no institutional reason to fly foreigners. Opening a seat to a Pakistani astronaut reverses that pattern and establishes a precedent. Once one foreign national has flown aboard Tiangong, the question for other countries becomes when, not whether, they might follow.
It matters, second, for Pakistan. A Pakistani astronaut aboard Tiangong will be a moment of national pride, and a visible demonstration that the country's space programme — long overshadowed by its larger neighbours — can put a citizen in orbit. The flight is also a practical investment: the training the two candidates have received in Beijing, and the experience the one who flies will bring home, will build human capital inside SUPARCO that no amount of remote cooperation could provide.
Third, the mission matters for the politics of space. Pakistan is China's closest partner in South Asia, and the two countries describe their relationship as an "all-weather" friendship. Flying a Pakistani astronaut reinforces that partnership in a highly visible way, in a domain — space — that carries prestige far beyond its practical value. At the same time, the mission is a statement to the wider world: China is willing and able to fly astronauts from other countries.
Fourth, the mission is a test of whether Tiangong can function as an international station in practice. Hosting a foreign astronaut requires more than a spare seat. It requires training in a common language, shared safety procedures, compatible equipment and a mission plan that integrates a visitor into a crew that has trained together for months. If Shenzhou-24 goes smoothly, it will demonstrate that China can do all of that, and it will make it easier for other countries to seek a similar opportunity.
There are limits to what the mission proves. A short visit by a single payload specialist is not the same as a full crew rotation, and it does not by itself make Tiangong an international station. The scientific work the Pakistani astronaut will carry out has not been described in detail, so it is too early to judge the mission's research value. And the timing remains uncertain: with no launch date confirmed by Beijing, and the minister's 25 November date unconfirmed, the mission could still slip. What is certain is the announcement itself — and the fact that, when Shenzhou-24 flies, a Pakistani will be aboard.
What Happens Next
The most immediate question is the launch date. CMSA has said only that Shenzhou-24 is expected to fly by the end of the year. Pakistan's planning minister Ahsan Iqbal said at a ceremony in October that the flight would take place on 25 November, but Beijing has not confirmed that date. If CMSA announces a date in the coming days or weeks, it will settle the question; if it does not, the mission may be closer to the end of the year than the minister's statement suggested.
The second question is which of the two candidates will fly. Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud have both been training in Beijing since their selection in April 2026, and CMSA has not named the prime crew member. In crewed spaceflight, the choice between prime and backup is often announced late. Until CMSA names the astronaut, reporting should refer to the two candidates by name only as candidates.
Once the mission is under way, attention will turn to what the Pakistani astronaut does aboard Tiangong. As a payload specialist, the crew member is expected to conduct scientific work, but the details have not been published. Observers will be watching for announcements from CMSA or SUPARCO about the experiments involved, and for any images or updates released during the mission.
The return, aboard Shenzhou-23, will be the final act of the mission. Shenzhou-23 has been docked at Tiangong since May 2026, and its crew will bring the visitor home with them to a landing in the desert of Inner Mongolia, closing a mission that will have carried a Pakistani into orbit for the first time.
Beyond Shenzhou-24, the mission raises questions about what comes next for China and Pakistan in space. If the flight succeeds, it would be natural for the two countries to discuss further cooperation, whether that means another Pakistani astronaut on a later mission, joint scientific work aboard Tiangong, or a role for Pakistan in China's lunar plans. None of that has been announced. But the February 2025 agreement was framed broadly — covering selection, training and participation in space station missions — and it leaves room for more. For other countries watching the mission, the question is simpler: if Pakistan can fly, who is next?
Illustration: The Tiangong space station passes over Earth at dawn. This is an AI-generated illustration, not a photograph of the actual station.
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FAQ
Who is the Pakistani astronaut flying on Shenzhou-24?
CMSA has not named the astronaut who will fly. Two candidates were selected in April 2026 after a three-stage selection process: pilots Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud. Both have been training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing, including intensive Chinese language instruction. One will fly as a payload specialist and the other will serve as backup.
When will Shenzhou-24 launch?
Beijing has not given a launch date. CMSA said only that the mission is expected to take place by the end of the year. Pakistan's planning minister Ahsan Iqbal said at a ceremony in October that the flight would take place on 25 November, but that date has not been confirmed by Beijing and should not be treated as an official launch date.
Why is this mission historic?
The Pakistani crew member will be the first foreign national to visit China's Tiangong space station, and the mission will be the first joint flight of Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's crewed space programme. Until now, only Chinese taikonauts have lived and worked aboard Tiangong, which has operated in low Earth orbit since 2021.
How long will the Pakistani astronaut stay in space?
The stay will be short. The Pakistani astronaut will travel to Tiangong aboard Shenzhou-24 and return to Earth aboard Shenzhou-23, the spacecraft that docked with the station in May 2026. The visitor will not remain aboard for a full crew rotation of around six months.
Has a Pakistani been to space before?
Yes, but not in orbit. Namira Salim became the first Pakistani citizen to travel to space on 6 October 2023, when she flew on Virgin Galactic's suborbital Galactic 04 flight, reaching an altitude of about 87 kilometres (54 miles) before returning to Earth. Shenzhou-24 will be the first time a Pakistani has flown in orbit and the first time a Pakistani astronaut has flown as part of a government space programme.
Sources
- Associated Press, via phys.org, 7 November 2026 — "Pakistani astronaut to board Shenzhou 24 and become the first foreigner on China's space station" (announcement, first foreign national aboard Tiangong, payload specialist, return aboard Shenzhou-23).
- Xinhua, via People's Daily, 7 November 2026 — CMSA announcement of the Pakistani astronaut's participation in Shenzhou-24, the first joint flight of Chinese and foreign astronauts in China's crewed space programme.
- TBS News, 7 November 2026 — reporting on the CMSA announcement, the two candidates Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, and the February 2025 SUPARCO–CMSA cooperation agreement.
- Space.com, 6 October 2023 — "Virgin Galactic launches 1st Pakistani to space on 4th commercial spaceflight" (Namira Salim, Galactic 04, suborbital flight, 54.3 miles / 87.4 kilometres).
- Associated Press — context on Shenzhou-23 (launched 24 May 2026, Hong Kong's first astronaut Lai Ka-ying aboard), Tiangong's operation since 2021, and lunar landing aims (China by 2030; NASA in 2028).
- Xinhua / CMSA reporting on the February 2025 SUPARCO–CMSA agreement covering astronaut selection, training and participation in Chinese space station missions.
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