China and Pakistan have signed an agreement on selecting and training Pakistani astronauts to visit China’s Tiangong orbiting space station.
According to the agreement inked on February 28 in Islamabad, Pakistan will select five astronauts for training in China, before they rotate to the space station alongside Chinese crew members for short-duration missions. Two astronauts from Pakistan are expected to be first chosen to go to space, according to Pakistani media.
China and Pakistan started space cooperation in 1990 when China launched Pakistan’s first satellite. In 2024, China’s Chang’e-6 moon probe carried a Pakistani satellite to the moon, which sent back Pakistan’s first picture from the lunar surface.
Experts said the bilateral agreement is a milestone for China’s space station to become more international, which will encourage more countries, especially developing ones, to join in space exploration.
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