Pakistani astronaut to join Shenzhou-24 in China’s first crewed mission with a foreign astronaut

A Pakistani astronaut will join the Shenzhou-24 crewed mission, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Saturday, making it the first flight in China’s human spaceflight programme to carry Chinese and foreign astronauts together.

The mission forms part of cooperation between Pakistan and China under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative. It represents a milestone in their space partnership and an extension of Beijing’s space diplomacy.

According to the China Manned Space Agency, the Pakistani participant will become the first foreign visitor to China’s space station and serve as a payload specialist. After a short stay in orbit, the astronaut will return to Earth aboard Shenzhou-23, according to media reports on Saturday.

China has not yet named the astronaut who will fly. A Pakistani space agency official said in September that pilots Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud had spent months preparing for a mission at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing.

The preparations follow a cooperation agreement signed by China and Pakistan in Islamabad in February 2025. That agreement provided for the selection and training of Pakistani astronauts for missions to China’s space station.

Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud were chosen as reserve astronauts after three demanding rounds of selection and assessment. Both then entered China’s astronaut training programme to prepare for the flight.

Once the necessary training and evaluations are complete, one of the two candidates will be assigned to the crewed mission. The other will remain available as the backup astronaut.