Chinese space station to welcome first foreign astronaut

A Pakistani national will orbit the Earth as part of the Shenzhou-24 mission, Beijing has said A Pakistani national will become the first foreign astronaut to visit China’s Tiangong space station, Beijing has said.He will join the crew of the Shenzhou-24 mission, which blasts off for the station on November 25, as a payload specialist, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Saturday.The Pakistani astronaut’s stay in orbit will be a rather short one, as he is scheduled to return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft, it said. The mission is expected to conclude on November 30.Two Pakistani representatives – Khurram Daud and Muhammad Zeeshan Ali – were selected to undergo training in China after a three-stage selection and assessment process. CMSA did not say which would travel to Tiangong and who will serve as a backup.So far, only Chinese taikonauts have worked at the station, which began operating in low orbit in 2021. After Beijing and Islamabad signed a cooperation agreement on a manned space flight in February 2025, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif hailed the development as “a defining moment in the nation’s space journey, emphasizing that it will be reme...