China’s Tiangong to Welcome First Foreign Astronaut as Space Becomes a New Diplomatic Arena

The milestone was formalized on February 28 with the signing of the Cooperation Agreement on the Selection, Training of Pakistani Astronauts and Participation in China's Space Station Flight Mission. The pact was signed by Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE), and Mohammad Yousaf Khan, chairman of the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), during a ceremony held at the Prime Minister's Office in Islamabad.

"This agreement marks the first time the Chinese government will select and train astronauts for a foreign country, and the Chinese space station will welcome its first international visitor," the CMSE noted in an official statement.

The selection process for the Pakistani astronaut is expected to take approximately one year. Once selected, the astronaut will travel to China for extensive training. The plan, as outlined by CMSE officials, involves the Pakistani astronaut joining their Chinese counterparts on the Tiangong space station, where they will participate in short-duration missions over the coming years.

Tiangong, which has been operational since 2022, is China’s flagship crewed space facility. Positioned in low Earth orbit at altitudes ranging from 340 to 450 kilometers (217 to 280 miles), the station was assembled in orbit by launching and connecting three core modules. Its first crewed mission, Shenzhou 12, launched in 2021 when only the core module was in place.

China’s space program has made significant strides since then. In December 2024, Chinese astronauts Cai Xuzhe and Song Lingdong from the Shenzhou 19 mission made headlines with a record-breaking nine-hour spacewalk outside Tiangong.

Parallel Efforts: NASA, SpaceX, and India's Journey to the ISS

China’s collaboration with Pakistan mirrors a similar but separate international effort underway between India and the United States. In 2024, NASA and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) formalized plans to send an Indian astronaut to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025, aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

As part of that agreement, NASA is currently training at least one Indian astronaut at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, preparing them to fly on a future Crew Dragon mission. This would mark the first time an Indian national travels to the ISS and the first joint human spaceflight effort between the U.S. and India.

Unlike China’s Tiangong program, which remains largely national but is opening to strategic partnerships, the ISS is a long-standing multinational effort involving NASA, Roscosmos, ESA, JAXA, and CSA. The upcoming Indian mission to the ISS highlights growing U.S.-India cooperation in space, complementing existing partnerships in satellite launches and lunar exploration.

While both the Chinese-Pakistani and U.S.-Indian collaborations aim to promote regional partnerships and strengthen diplomatic ties through space, the missions differ in scope. The Pakistani astronaut is expected to join short-term missions aboard a Chinese-run station with relatively new infrastructure, whereas the Indian astronaut will participate in a long-established, globally operated orbital lab aboard the ISS.

Both missions, however, represent a broader trend: the democratization of human spaceflight and the rise of space diplomacy as a tool for fostering international cooperation in science, technology, and exploration.

By Azhar