In TrendsHDFC Bank New CEO Live UpdatesStock MarketRupee vs DollarRunwal Enterprises IPOGold and SilverChina's space diplomacy lifts Pakistani astronaut toward orbitThe astronaut will fly aboard a Chinese-built spacecraft, launched from a Chinese site, trained by Chinese instructors and communicating in Mandarin in orbit.By Reuters September 28, 2026, 8:16:32 AM IST (Published)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.Also Read: Hyderabad-born Rohan Naidu, who dropped out of engineering at 18, leads ‘black hole star’ studyChina…
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