Pakistani astronaut to join China space station's Shenzhou-24 mission

A ​Pakistani astronaut will join ​China's space station ‌on this ​year's Shenzhou-24 mission, as part of bilateral cooperation under Beijing's Belt ‌and Road Initiative, Chinese state media reported on Saturday. The first foreign visitor to the space station will participate as ‌a payload specialist in the mission, broadcaster CCTV ‌reported, citing the China Manned Space Agency.

China has not identified the astronaut, but pilots Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud ⁠have spent ​months ⁠training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing ⁠for a mission, a Pakistani space agency official told ​Reuters in September. Beijing has not announced the date ⁠of the mission.

CCTV said that after completing a short-term ⁠in-orbit flight, ​the astronaut will return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft. This marks the first joint spaceflight ⁠featuring both Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of ⁠China's ⁠manned space program, under Beijing's space diplomacy.