A Pakistani astronaut is set to become the first foreign national to travel to China’s Tiangong space station, as Beijing intensifies its space diplomacy amid increasing competition with the United States for dominance in orbit.

Although the astronaut has yet to be selected, the mission highlights deepening space cooperation between China and Pakistan.

The two countries have already collaborated on several space initiatives. Just last year, Pakistan launched a satellite to the Moon aboard a Chinese lunar mission, joining payloads from the European Space Agency, France, and Italy.

Tiangong, China’s space station, is one of only two operational stations currently in orbit, alongside the US-led International Space Station (ISS), which was launched in 1998. Since Tiangong became operational in 2021, it has exclusively hosted Chinese astronauts until now.

“The mission is a significant step in the internationalization of the Chinese space station,” an astrophysicist and professor at the University of Hong Kong, Quentin Parker said.

“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.

At a press conference held on Wednesday, the China Manned Space Agency revealed that the chosen Pakistani astronaut will serve as a payload specialist. Their responsibilities will include managing routine operations aboard the space station and conducting scientific experiments on behalf of Pakistan.

The deputy director of SUPARCO, Amjad Ali, praised the announcement as a significant achievement for the country.

He noted that the government has recently renewed its commitment to revitalizing its space program, which has been active for over six decades.

According to Ali, SUPARCO will prepare a shortlist of five to ten potential candidates for the mission within the next month. From this list, Chinese authorities will select two finalists.

The selected pair will undergo six months to a year of intensive training in China. One of them will ultimately be chosen to embark on the mission—potentially as early as October next year—while the other will serve as a backup.

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