China’s Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Nov. 8 that a Pakistani astronaut will fly on the Shenzhou 24 mission as a payload specialist. The astronaut will spend several days in orbit before returning to Earth aboard Shenzhou 23. It will be the first time a foreign national has visited China’s Tiangong space station. The astronaut’s identity has not yet been disclosed.
Key points
▶ The CMSA said on Nov. 8 that a Pakistani astronaut will join the next crewed mission, Shenzhou 24, as a payload specialist.
▶ After spending several days in orbit, the astronaut will return to Earth aboard Shenzhou 23, which will already be at the station. This will be the first visit to China’s Tiangong space station by a foreign national. The astronaut’s identity has not been announced.
▶ Two candidates have been selected: Pakistani Air Force pilots Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Dawood, following three rounds of selection. After completing training in China and passing evaluations, one will fly while the other will serve as the backup astronaut.
China’s space station is opening its doors to a foreign national for the first time. In a statement issued on the morning of Nov. 8 local time, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said a Pakistani astronaut would serve as a payload specialist on the Shenzhou 24 mission.
The astronaut will spend several days in orbit and then return to Earth aboard Shenzhou 23. This will be the first time an astronaut from another country has traveled to China’s Tiangong space station. The CMSA also released the Shenzhou 24 mission emblem that day, but did not announce the launch date or the astronaut’s name.
◆ One of two pilots
The selection of Pakistani astronauts began in February 2025. The CMSA and Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) signed an agreement in Islamabad to select and train Pakistani astronauts.
After preliminary, second-round and final selections, two male pilots were chosen as candidates: Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Dawood. They are training in China. Once they complete their training and pass the evaluations, one will fly while the other remains as the backup astronaut.
A payload specialist is a crew member responsible for experiments and equipment operations, rather than piloting the spacecraft. When Shenzhou 24 reaches Tiangong, the specialist will spend some time with the Shenzhou 23 crew, who will already be at the station.
During the crew handover, the Pakistani astronaut will conduct experiments and return to Earth with the Shenzhou 23 crew at the end of their mission. The stay will last only a few days. The Chinese crew aboard Shenzhou 24 will remain on the station for about six months.
◆ From 87.4 kilometers to 400 kilometers
Pakistan has never sent a person into space. The highest altitude reached by a Pakistani national is about 87.4 kilometers. Polar explorer and artist Namira Salim reached that height during a 55-minute suborbital flight with U.S. company Virgin Galactic on Oct. 6, 2023.
The Kármán line, commonly used as the boundary of space, is 100 kilometers above Earth. Salim did not reach it. Tiangong orbits at an altitude of about 400 kilometers. The Shenzhou 24 astronaut will become the first Pakistani to reach orbit.
Tiangong is a space station built entirely by China. It is among the largest and most advanced structures in Earth orbit, and is the only space station built and operated independently by a single country. The International Space Station (ISS), by contrast, is jointly operated by the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
China did not participate in the ISS program after the U.S. Congress passed a law in 2011 restricting cooperation between NASA and China, and went on to build its own station. It has chosen longtime ally Pakistan as the first foreign country to send an astronaut there.
In April 2008, South Korean astronaut Yi So-yeon traveled to the ISS aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft and stayed for about 10 days. No other South Korean has flown to space since.