Pakistani Visitor, Hong Kong or Macao Taikonaut Set to Journey to Tiangong This Year, CMSA Details
China's human spaceflight agency is also planning to progress its crewed lunar landing program over the coming year.
The China Manned Space Agency released an overview of its plans for the coming year on February 27th. That overview covers most of China’s human spaceflight plans for the rest of 2026 and the first few weeks of 20271, including the operational two Shenzhou and one Tianzhou missions.
A key part of the overview confirmed previous announcements from Pakistan’s Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, which said earlier this month that a Pakistani astronaut will fly to the Tiangong Space Station toward the end of the year. The China Manned Space Agency added that the visiting astronaut will be onboard for a short-term stay, verifying expectations that they will be launched aboard Shenzhou-24 and return with Shenzhou-23.
Additionally, the space agency reiterated that a taikonaut from the Shenzhou-23 mission will spend a year onboard the space station for the first time, coming back to Earth on the Pakistani visitors’ Shenzhou-24 slot. With a recent set of ‘retirement’ announcements from Yang Liwei (杨利伟), the first Chinese person to be sent into space and Deputy Chief Designer at the China Manned Space Agency, potential candidates2 for the yearlong stay are:
Liu Yang (刘洋) of Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-14.
Wang Yaping (王亚平) of Shenzhou-10 and Shenzhou-13.
Tang Hongbo (汤洪波) of Shenzhou-12 and Shenzhou-17.
Ye Guangfu (叶光富) of Shenzhou-13 and Shenzhou-18.
Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲) of Shenzhou-14 and Shenzhou-19.
Alongside the previous two details, the China Manned Space Agency felt it relevant to mention that taikonauts selected in 2024 from the Hong Kong (香港) and Macao (澳门) Special Administrative Regions can start being assigned to missions this year. Officials in Hong Kong, like Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超), have been expecting the region’s sole taikonaut to fly this year. What mission the Special Administrative Regions taikonauts may be assigned to is unknown, but if they fly this year they will work with the Pakistani visitor.
Regarding hardware, the space agency plans to further the development of hardware for China’s crewed lunar exploration program, ahead of a first landing in 2028 or 2029, without detailing what tests will be completed this year. Earlier this month, the Mengzhou (梦舟) capsule completed its in-flight abort test and began extensive sea trials to clear the way for an uncrewed demonstration mission to Tiangong toward the end of the year. Less recently, the Lanyue (揽月) lunar lander completed takeoff and landing tests within an extraterrestrial gravity simulator back in August 2025, while the tri-core Long March 10 Moon rocket has had its second and third stages fired up on test stands.
To end its overview for the coming year, the China Manned Space Agency wrote:
“China Manned Space Agency will continue advancing cooperative projects with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs. China remains open to global partners sharing in the achievements of its human spaceflight program, jointly advancing global space technology development, and making new and greater contributions to the peaceful use of outer space for the benefit of all humanity.”
If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.
Following the Year of the Horse, running from February 17th 2026 to February 5th 2027.
It is believed that the taikonaut staying onboard for a year will have existing experience from multiple missions. The list in this article has half the possible candidates as I wrote in November.