Pakistani astronaut to join China's Shenzhou-24 crewed flight mission

The China Manned Space Agency announces on Saturday that one Pakistani astronaut has been selected to join the Shenzhou-24 crewed flight mission as a payload specialist.

The Pakistani astronaut will travel to the Chinese space station, complete a short on-orbit flight and return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft, according to the announcement.

It marks an important development of China's manned space programme by bringing the first foreign astronaut to Tiangong.

In 2025, a cooperation agreement was sealed between China and Pakistan on the selection and training of Pakistani astronauts for missions aboard the Chinese space station.

Two candidates were chosen as reserve astronauts earlier this year following three stages of screening and evaluation process.

After completing training in China and passing all assessments, one of them will be assigned to take part in the Shenzhou-24 mission while the other will remain on standby as the backup astronaut.

The agency has yet to identify which Pakistani candidate will undertake the flight.