China's space diplomacy lifts Pakistani astronaut

Two Pakistani pilots are memorising Mandarin, spinning in centrifuge drills and learning to eat, sleep and repair equipment while weightless as a decision nears on which one will become the first foreign astronaut aboard China's Tiangong space station.



The voyage into space would be a first for the South Asian nation.



It is part of broader cooperation with Beijing that straddles the Belt and Road Initiative and has produced Chinese-launched Pakistani satellites, a joint satellite-navigation system and a Pakistani-built rover due to fly on China's Chang'e 8 lunar mission around 2028.



Pilots Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud have spent months training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing for a mission that was conceived by the two countries in 2019, said Amer Gilani, who oversees human spaceflight cooperation at Pakistan's space agency, SUPARCO.



China has not said which of the two will fly or when, but Gilani said a final astronaut selection decision is expected in mid-to-late October.