Pakistani astronaut to board Shenzhou 24 and become the first foreigner on China’s space station

Pakistani astronaut set to board Shenzhou 24 and become China’s first foreign national aboard the space station

Beijing – A Pakistani astronaut will join the crew of China’s Shenzhou 24 spacecraft on a mission that could make him the first foreign citizen to board Beijing’s space station, according to state media reports from Saturday.

China’s space agency says the astronaut will complete a brief orbital passage and then return to Earth aboard Shenzhou 23, without disclosing a specific launch date.

The flight signifies the first time a Chinese astronaut travels together with a foreigner, marking a historic step for China’s manned space programme.

Earlier in 2025 Xinhua detailed that two Pakistani trainees, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, began parallel training with their Chinese counterparts, reserving one as the payload specialist for this short term mission.

Training also covered essential operational skills and included an intensive Mandarin Chinese course to boost communicative ability on orbit.

The departure follows an agreement executed by Beijing and Pakistan in February 2025.

As part of preparations for China’s planned first crewed lunar landing around 2030, the United States, seen as China’s principal space neighbour, intends to place its own crew on the Moon via NASA projects by 2028.

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