The Chinese space station will welcome its first foreign astronaut, and a Pakistani astronaut will participate in the God 24 mission.
Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, November 7 (Li Guoli, Deng Meng) Reporters learned from the Office of Manned Space Engineering on the 7th that a Pakistani astronaut will participate in the Shenzhou 24 manned mission as a payload specialist. After completing a short-term orbital flight, it will return with the Shenzhou 23 manned spacecraft.
This is the first joint flight of Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's manned space project, and the Chinese space station will welcome its first visiting foreign astronaut.
In February 2025, China and Pakistan signed the "Cooperation Agreement on the Selection, Training of Pakistani Astronauts and Participation in Chinese Space Station Missions" in Islamabad, officially launching the selection of Pakistani astronauts. After three stages of rigorous screening and evaluation, namely initial selection, secondary selection and final selection, two Pakistani reserve astronauts were selected. After completing various trainings in China and passing the assessment, one of them will perform a manned flight mission, and the other will serve as a backup astronaut for the mission.