{"id":671,"date":"2026-04-23T16:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/?p=671"},"modified":"2026-04-23T16:47:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T16:47:13","slug":"pm-meets-pakistanis-chosen-for-china-space-mission-hopes-to-kickstart-new-era-of-space-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/23\/pm-meets-pakistanis-chosen-for-china-space-mission-hopes-to-kickstart-new-era-of-space-research\/","title":{"rendered":"PM meets Pakistanis chosen for China space mission, hopes to kickstart new era of space research"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ISLAMABAD<\/strong>: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday congratulated the two Pakistani astronaut candidates selected for China\u2019s manned space programme, expressing hope that the voyage will \u201cusher in a new era of space research in Pakistan\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, the Prime Minister\u2019s Office (PMO) said that he met the two candidates \u2014 Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud \u2014 at the Prime Minister\u2019s House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The premier congratulated the two, stating that the space mission was a \u201cmatter of pride for the entire nation\u201d. He further commended their \u201cround-the-clock efforts\u201d in achieving the milestone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PM Shehbaz hoped that the space mission would \u201cadd new dimensions to the brotherly relationship between Pakistan and China\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also present at the meeting was Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Jiang Zaidong. The premier, in conversation with him, welcomed the development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The prime minister told the Chinese ambassador that Pakistan and China\u2019s friendship was \u201cready to reach for the stars and touch the heights of the sky\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPerforming research duties in space for Pakistan is a source of honour, a unique privilege, and a matter of pride,\u201d the PMO cited the astronaut candidates as saying, adding that the two hoped to \u201cmake every possible effort to live up to the nation\u2019s hopes\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A day earlier, China announced that it had selected two Pakistanis as candidates for its manned space programme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both will travel to China for training, and one of them will participate in a space flight mission as a payload specialist, according to CCTV, becoming the first foreign astronaut to board China\u2019s space station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China Daily reported that Zeeshan and Daud had passed multiple rounds of selection procedures and would soon visit China to take part in spaceflight training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February 2025, Pakistan\u2019s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission and China Manned Space Agency signed a cooperation agreement. Under the pact, two Pakistanis were to train in China, with one joining a mission on the Tiangong space station operated by Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February this year, two astronauts were shortlisted for Pakistan\u2019s Human Spaceflight Programme by the Astronauts Centre of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China has been barred from particip\u00adating in the International Space Station since 2011, when the US prohibited Nasa from collaborating with Chinese space agencies. Since then, Beijing has sought to build partnerships with other countries \u2014 including Pakistan \u2014 in its expanding space programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Thursday congratulated the two Pakistani astronaut candidates selected for China\u2019s manned space programme, expressing hope that the voyage will \u201cusher in a new era of space research in Pakistan\u201d. In a statement, the Prime Minister\u2019s Office (PMO) said that he met the two candidates \u2014 Zeeshan Ali and Khurram […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":673,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,11,7,16,2],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[27],"class_list":{"0":"post-671","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-china","8":"category-cpec","9":"category-latest","10":"category-national","11":"category-pakisstan"},"authors":[{"term_id":27,"user_id":3,"is_guest":0,"slug":"afnanwasif","display_name":"Web Desk","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cbec8328241e98fefcd32e00f20f7a6b502086a0b95d395db4b1565c51681914?s=96&d=mm&r=g","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=671"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":674,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/671\/revisions\/674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=671"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomag.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}