On 5 November 2026 Reuters reported that a Pakistani astronaut will join China’s Tiangong space station on the Shenzhou‑24 mission, becoming the first foreign visitor aboard the manned space station and marking a historic first joint spaceflight under China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
The unnamed astronaut is set to serve as a payload specialist, a role described by Chinese state media outlet CCTV, citing the China Manned Space Agency. China has not announced the astronaut’s name, but a Pakistani space agency official told Reuters in September that pilots Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud have spent months training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing for a mission.
CCTV said that after completing a short‑term in‑orbit flight, the astronaut will return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou‑23 spacecraft. This return plan is part of the overall schedule that allows astronauts on both the Shenzhou‑24 and Shenzhou‑23 missions to share the station during overlapping windows.
According to Reuters, the mission is a concrete example of the growing cooperation between China and Pakistan, which is also a participant in China’s Belt and Road Initiative. The programme is designed to foster collaboration in space science and technology, signaling a willingness by Beijing to share its manned spaceflight success with a key partner.
China has not yet announced the launch date of Shenzhou‑24. The only official timeline available is that the astronaut will travel aboard Shenzhou‑24 and return aboard the prior vehicle, Shenzhou‑23, a detail that signals the Chinese agencies’ preference for safe, incremental integration of foreign crew members.
The article in Reuters labeled the mission as “the first joint spaceflight featuring both Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China’s manned space program.” The report was accompanied by a link to a Chinese daily’s Facebook post that repeated the same information, though the Facebook post indicated that the content was no longer publicly available.
While the name of the Pakistani astronaut is still unknown, the Pakistani space agency’s statement confirmed that training is underway with established pilots. The reliance on “pilot” terminology suggests that the foreign participant will not be a professional Chinese pilot but a specialist in payload handling and technology, a role that has been used in other multinational space missions.
As of the time of the report, no other agencies have yet issued a press release or confirmed details. Pakistani officials maintain that the country’s partnership with China will continue to grow, but no details regarding additional crew members or extended missions have been announced.
Despite the promising announcement, the major unresolved element remains the lack of an official launch date for Shenzhou‑24. In addition, the identity of the Pakistani astronaut is absent from all public statements, leaving a core aspect of the mission shadowed. The decision to use an unnamed payload specialist may indicate either an ongoing selection process or a choice to keep the individual’s identity private until the launch window is confirmed. These uncertainties underscore the still‑developing nature of China’s foreign‑crew strategy and the evolving timeline of the Shenzhou‑24 mission.
