Pakistan First Astronaut to Fly to China Space Station on Shenzhou-24: What We Know

What China announced on 7 November

A Pakistani astronaut will travel to China Tiangong space station aboard the Shenzhou-24 mission and return to Earth aboard Shenzhou-23, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on 7 November 2026. The Pakistani crew member will fly as a payload specialist, a role focused on scientific experiments and equipment carried into space, and will complete a short stay in orbit. The visit will be the first by a foreign astronaut to the Chinese station, and the first joint flight involving Chinese and foreign astronauts in China human spaceflight programme. China also released the Shenzhou-24 mission emblem on 7 November, carrying the year 2026 and the designation SZ-24.

Who will fly

China has not announced the launch date and has not said which candidate will fly. Two Pakistani candidates were selected in April 2026 after three stages of selection and assessment: pilots Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud. Both completed training at the Astronauts Centre of China, and one will receive the flight assignment while the other serves as backup. Pakistan Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said at a ceremony in October that the mission would fly on 25 November, and the CMSA announcement says only that the flight is expected by the end of the year. Treat 25 November as the minister October statement, not as a confirmed launch date, until CMSA names a day.

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How the mission came about

The seat comes from an agreement signed in Islamabad on 28 February 2025 between Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and the China Manned Space Engineering Office, to select and train Pakistani astronauts for missions aboard the Chinese station. Under the arrangement, China provides astronaut training and prepares Pakistani candidates for short duration missions aboard Tiangong. A statement issued on 7 February 2026 through Pakistan Inter-Services Public Relations on SUPARCO behalf said the two candidates had undergone medical, psychological and aptitude assessments at the Astronauts Centre of China. SUPARCO has identified several research fields for the astronaut programme, including biological and medical sciences, aerospace, applied physics, fluid mechanics, space radiation, ecology, materials science, microgravity studies and astronomy.

Why it matters, and what it is not

This will be Pakistan first professional astronaut in orbit, and the first time China has opened its station to a foreign guest. It is not the first time a Pakistani has been to space in any sense: Namira Salim, a Pakistan-born woman, previously flew to the edge of space on a Virgin Galactic suborbital flight. The Shenzhou-24 flight is different in kind, a stay aboard an orbiting station with scientific work, followed by a return aboard Shenzhou-23, which docked at Tiangong in May. Tiangong began operating in 2021 and was fully assembled in 2022. The Pakistani astronaut will join Chinese crew members for a short period in orbit, not a long duration expedition, and the CMSA announcement gives no exact duration or flight schedule.

Frequently asked questions

When will the Pakistani astronaut launch? No launch date has been announced. Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said in October that the mission would fly on 25 November, and the CMSA announcement says only that it is expected by the end of the year.

Who is the astronaut? Not announced. The two candidates are pilots Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, and one of them will fly while the other serves as backup.

What will the astronaut do in space? The Pakistani crew member will fly as a payload specialist, running scientific experiments in orbit, in fields SUPARCO has listed from biological and medical sciences to microgravity studies.

Is this Pakistan first person in space? It will be Pakistan first professional astronaut in orbit and the first to live and work aboard a space station. Namira Salim previously flew a suborbital Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of space.

Sources: Xinhua via Reuters and Associated Press reporting, as reported by Asia Daily and Zark News; The Daily CPEC; Supercluster; MLQ.