Pakistani astronaut to fly on China's Shenzhou-24 mission
Chinese state media said the astronaut will serve as payload specialist on a short stay aboard the Tiangong station, but gave no name and no launch date.
A Pakistani astronaut will fly to China's Tiangong space station as payload specialist on the Shenzhou-24 mission, Chinese state media reported on Saturday, the first time a foreign astronaut has been included in China's crewed space programme.
The China Manned Space Agency, in comments carried by state broadcaster CCTV, said the Pakistani astronaut would make a short-term stay aboard the orbiting station and return to Earth on the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft.
The astronaut's identity has not been released. Two Pakistani pilots, Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, have spent months in training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Centre in Beijing, according to the reports. A Pakistani space agency official told Reuters in September that the two pilots were preparing for a possible mission.
Beijing has not announced a launch date for Shenzhou-24. The reports did not say which of the two pilots had been selected, and gave no length for the stay beyond describing it as short-term.
Chinese state media presented the flight as part of space cooperation between Pakistan and China under Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. It said the mission would be the first joint spaceflight by Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's human space programme.
The reports did not say when the selection was made or whether either pilot has been formally assigned to the crew.
How the reports differ
Minute Mirror alone named the two pilots reported to be in training, Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud, and reported that the astronaut would return to Earth on the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft. China Daily rendered the mission as Shenzhou XXIV rather than Shenzhou-24, while the reports from WRIC ABC 8News and The Times of India carried the claim without further detail.
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