China Begins Training Two Pakistani Astronauts For Future Space Missions
China has begun training two Pakistani astronauts for future missions to the Tiangong space station, marking a major milestone in the growing space cooperation between Beijing and Islamabad. Image courtesy: representative image via Wikimedia Commons.
China announced on Saturday (May 23, 2026) that it has begun training two Pakistani astronauts for future space missions. The two Pakistani astronauts entered the Astronaut Center of China recently and are participating in training alongside their Chinese counterparts.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said all related work for the Pakistani astronauts to join future space missions was progressing smoothly. At a media event, the CMSA spokesperson Shang Jinbo said one of the two Pakistani astronauts would serve as a payload specialist for a short-term spaceflight mission, according to the plan.
The two Pakistani astronauts were currently following the training schedule to complete basic and aerospace training courses at the Astronaut Center of China. At the event in Jinquan in northwest China, Zhang said the training focused on developing hands-on operational capabilities to ensure the Pakistani astronauts were fully qualified to carry out the mission.
The two Pakistani astronauts would go through intensive Chinese language instruction during the initial phase of the training. The language course was to strengthen their Chinese proficiency, including basic Chinese knowledge and the relevant command vocabulary required for mission execution.
The CMSA announced in April that two Pakistani astronauts, Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, had been selected as the final candidates following the completion of the first selection of foreign astronauts for China’s manned space programme.
The two Pakistani astronauts were training to join a mission to the Chinese space station later this year. They were named as the selected candidates after undergoing assessments. One of the two Pakistani astronauts would become the first foreign astronaut to enter the Tiangong space station, it was announced in April 2026.
China was providing this opportunity to Pakistani astronauts under a space cooperation agreement between the two countries in February 2025. China has previously launched payloads for Pakistan during space missions, including remote sensing satellites. China is also planning to take a Pakistani lunar rover to the moon as part of the 2028 Chang’e-8 mission, apart from deciding to let foreign astronauts on its space station.
