Pakistani Astronaut to Visit Tiangong Later This Year via Shenzhou-24 Mission
With advanced training underway, China’s space station is set to host its first visitor in October and November.
Yesterday, February 7th, Pakistan’s Inter-Services Public Relations shared that two Pakistani astronauts have progressed further in their training for a mission to the Tiangong Space Station later this year. In a press release shared on behalf of the country’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, the following was announced:
“Following an initial screening process in Pakistan, two candidates have been shortlisted after undergoing comprehensive medical, psychological and aptitude assessments conducted at the Astronauts Centre of China, in accordance with international human spaceflight standards.”
“The shortlisted candidates will undertake advanced astronaut training for six months at [Astronauts Centre of China]. Upon completion of training, one candidate will be selected for a spaceflight mission aboard the Chinese Space Station in October / November 2026.”
In their six months of training, the two candidates will be prepared to fly as payload specialists to perform research on Pakistan-originating short-duration experiments going up and returning alongside them. Sometime later in their training, one astronaut will be assigned as the primary payload specialist, while the other serves as the backup1. Whoever heads to the space station will spend a week onboard.
The process of sending a Pakistani visitor to Tiangong has been a fairly fast one, with an agreement signed between the China Manned Space Agency and the Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission in February 2025, followed by initial training of a candidate group in June and a narrowing down in October.
With Pakistan announcing that an astronaut will head to space in the October-November period, the mission to Tiangong set to carry them will be Shenzhou-24 in late October or early November. The visit will also require a taikonaut from the late April-starting Shenzhou-23 mission, the mission the visitor will return with, to spend a full year in space2 for the weeklong visit to occur.
Back in November 2025, the China Manned Space Agency subtly confirmed3 that a taikonaut will spend a year in space, starting from the first Shenzhou mission of 2026. After the ‘emergency response’ launch of Shenzhou-22, those missions were confirmed to be Shenzhou-23 for launch and Shenzhou-24 for the return to Earth after twelve months.
The backup crew member is not expected to fly unless the primary Pakistani payload specialist has a medical issue.
A first for China’s human spaceflight program.