Pakistan will send an astronaut to China’s Tiangong space station aboard the Shenzhou-24 mission, making him the first foreign national to visit the orbiting outpost, Chinese state-linked space authorities announce. Multiple outlets report that the astronaut is expected to fly on a short on-orbit mission and then return home, with the flight timeline described as occurring by the end of the year.
Coverage largely centers on the diplomatic and programme details surrounding the trip. One report adds that Pakistan and China signed an agreement in February 2025 to run a Chinese government training programme for Pakistani astronauts, and identifies two people—Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud—as having started training in China. Several outlets say the specific astronaut’s name is not publicly identified in the announcement.
Outlets otherwise provide overlapping, straightforward confirmation of the same development: the Shenzhou-24 mission to Tiangong and the historic “first foreigner” framing.
