Who was named
Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (Suparco) said on Wednesday 22 April 2026 that the two astronaut candidates selected to train in China are Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud. The agency said in a statement issued through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting that the pair had cleared multiple rounds of selection and would travel to the Astronaut Centre of China (ACC) for “advanced astronaut training”. One of them is expected to be assigned as a payload specialist on a late-2026 mission to the China Space Station (CSS), which would make the first Pakistani — and the first foreign national — to reach the CSS.
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) confirmed the two names the same day through state broadcaster CCTV and a separate China Daily report. CMSA framed the training and selection as “a landmark event in the history of China’s space industry” and “an iconic achievement of international cooperation on the Chinese space station”, and said the Pakistani astronaut selected for flight would become “the first foreign astronaut to visit the Chinese space station” upon completing the training and assessment cycle.
How the cooperation fits together
The arrangement traces to a February 2025 cooperation agreement between Suparco and CMSA, signed in Islamabad, under which two Pakistani candidates were to train in China and one would join a mission on the Tiangong station operated by Beijing. In February this year, the two candidates were shortlisted for the Pakistan Human Spaceflight Programme by the ACC. Wednesday’s announcement puts names to that shortlist and formalises the training step.
The Chinese-side station programme has run on a steady cadence since the Tianhe core module launched in April 2021, with the Wentian and Mengtian experiment modules attached in 2022. The most recent crew rotation before Wednesday’s announcement was the unmanned Shenzhou-22 mission, launched on a Long March 2F from Jiuquan on 25 November 2025 to resupply the CSS.
If realised, the late-2026 flight would carry a Pakistani payload specialist alongside Chinese taikonauts and is expected to involve several microgravity experiments across material science, fluid physics, life science and biotechnology, with stated applications for climate resilience, food security and industrial innovation. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called the development “a harbinger of deep space exploration” and said the partnership with China was “yet another testimony” of the bilateral friendship.
What is still uncertain
Two questions remain open at the editorial cutoff. First, which of the two candidates will fly: CMSA said flight assignment follows the completion of training and the relevant assessments, so the seat will only be confirmed closer to launch. Second, the launch date itself has not been published — the mission is described as “planned for late 2026”, consistent with the existing Tiangong rotation cadence but not pinned to a specific window. Both the training timeline and any payload composition beyond the four thematic clusters Suparco listed are not yet public.
Sources & reporting notes
This is a synthesis of published material, not eyewitness reporting. Sources were reviewed on 2026-04-22.
- Dawn — 2 Pakistani astronauts selected as candidates for China's space programmePublished 22 April 2026 · Primary: Reuters wire republication at Dawn carrying the CCTV/CMSA announcement of the two named candidates and the Pakistan selection; embeds the Suparco Ministry of Information and Broadcasting statement on training at the Astronaut Centre of China and the late-2026 CSS mission slot, plus the PM Shehbaz Sharif "harbinger of deep space exploration" quote.
- China Daily — 2 Pakistanis chosen for training, one may fly to China's space stationPublished 22 April 2026 · Independent: by Zhao Lei, citing the China Manned Space Agency statement that Zeeshan Ali and Daud passed multiple rounds of selection and that one will be assigned as a payload specialist on a late-2026 China Space Station mission, becoming the first foreign astronaut to visit the station; frames the cooperation as a landmark in China's space industry under the all-weather strategic partnership with Pakistan.
