A Pakistani astronaut will become the first foreign national aboard China's Tiangong space station, as Beijing steps up space diplomacy amid a burgeoning battle with the United States for supremacy in orbit. The mission of the Pakistani astronaut – who is yet to be selected – tightens already close space ties between Beijing and Islamabad. Last year, Pakistan sent a satellite to the Moon aboard China's lunar explorer, alongside payloads from the European Space Agency, France, and Italy, according to Chinese state media. Tiangong is one of two currently operating space stations, alongside the International Space Station, launched in 1998. Since it started operating in 2021, it has only hosted Chinese astronauts. The mission is "a significant step in the internationalization of the Chinese space station," said Quentin Parker, an astrophysicist and professor at the University of Hong Kong. "When you internationalize things properly, you build something greater than the sum of the parts, and that's true in the internationalization of the space station," he said. During a press conference on Wednesday, the China Manned Space Agency announced the astronaut selected will be a payload specialist, handling daily tasks during the mission, as well as scientific experiments for Pakistan. Amjad Ali, deputy director of Pakistan's space agency SUPARCO, lauded the news as a milestone for the South Asian nation, whose government is taking a renewed interest in its more than 60-year-old space program. "It is very important for Pakistan, being the first foreign country whose astronauts are entertained by China and taken by the Chinese mission," he told Reuters news agency on Wednesday. Ali said Pakistan space bosses will compile a list of five to 10 candidates for the mission over the next month, for China to then shorten to two. The pair will then go through training in China for six months to a year, with one eventually being sent to space as early as October next year, while the other acts as a reserve, Ali said. The two countries' growing space ties coincide with their increasing economic collaboration and trade on Earth. Under Beijing's China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a major project within its broader Belt and Road Initiative, China has invested heavily in infrastructure in the north and south of Pakistan, including a deep-water port in the southwestern city of Gwadar, as well as multiple technological projects between the two countries. An agreement signed in February between the two countries on space cooperation was a precursor the mission announced Wednesday. On Tuesday, a delegation from Chinese space tech company Galaxy Space met with Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, according to a statement from Sharif's office. The delegation expressed a "keen interest in investing in Pakistan's space technology industry and joint ventures with Pakistani space technology institutions and private telecom companies," the statement added. Sharif, calling China his country's "most reliable friend and strategic partner," said that Pakistan was "looking to increase cooperation with China in the fields of space technology, space satellites and satellite internet." Amer Gilani, who oversees human spaceflight cooperation at SUPARCO, told CNN that the experiments to be conducted during the planned mission were still being selected, but will have "high scientific, industrial and social impact." China has rapidly advanced its space power in recent decades through ambitious lunar and deep-space exploration programs, as well as expanding its space station. On Thursday, another manned mission will launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, carrying three astronauts to Tiangong. The Shenzhou-20 crew is scheduled to blast off at 5:17 p.m. on Thursday local time (5:17 a.m. ET), state media reported on Wednesday. It will be the ninth crewed mission headed for China's space station since it was fully assembled in 2022. The main purpose of the mission is to complete the in-orbit rotation with the Shenzhou-19 crew, which is scheduled to return to earth on April 29, China Manned Space Agency officials said at a press conference. While in space, the astronauts will conduct science and application experiments, install a space debris protection device, as well as extravehicular payload and equipment, and perform recovery tasks, according to the agency. The mission will also carry small animals and organisms for life-science experiments at the space station. They will include zebrafish, flatworms known as planarians, and streptomyces bacteria. China has signed nearly 200 intergovernmental space cooperation agreements with foreign countries and international organizations, covering fields from satellite development and lunar exploration to manned space flight, state media reported in December. China's space administration announced Thursday it has also approved loans of lunar samples collected by China's earlier moon exploration mission to seven institutions across six countries, including Pakistan. Parker, from the University of Hong Kong, emphasized the importance of international space cooperation. "The way that things are in the world at the moment is increasingly complex – but it's important that this outreach and collaborative spirit is maintained," he said. — CNN
