China is training Pakistani astronauts ahead of a selection process that will eventually see a pair of them travel to the Chinese Tiangong space station, making them the first international visitors to the station since it entered orbit in 2022. With the station designed to last upwards of a decade, this could be the first of a long-line of international missions aboard the Chinese station that could extend beyond the lifespan of the International Space Station.
“Two selected Pakistani astronauts will participate in training together with Chinese astronauts. One of them will be scheduled to carry out a short-duration flight mission as a payload expert,” Zhang Jingbo, spokesperson for the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said (via Space.com).
The cooperation deal between Pakistan and China that facilitates this mission was signed in February this year, and cements an evolving partnership between the two countries when it comes to the space-theater. Pakistan is currently selecting the astronauts for the mission, but China will get the final say in who goes.
A mockup of the Tiangong station shown in Hong Kong in 2022.
Credit: AKAMGO yalms/CC
The two person crew will join Chinese taikonauts as they travel to Tiangong station to replenish and replace the existing crew as part of regular rotations. While there they will conduct experiments, before joining the returning crew a few days later.
No fixed timeline has been given for the mission, but it’s expected that they’ll fly aboard the Long March 2F rocket sending a Shenzhou spacecraft to the station in around six months time. Alternatively, they could join the next scheduled mission to the station beyond that, which should fly in around November 2026.
With the International Space Station currently scheduled for de-orbit sometime in 2030, cooperations like this showcase what the future of international in-orbit partnerships might look like. The Tiangong station was launched into orbit in 2022, with China planning a decade or more of deployment. It has been upgraded multiple times over the years with new modules and additional shielding and capabilities.
