Pakistan to send an astronaut to China's space station
The astronaut will serve as a payload specialist and return on Shenzhou-23, China's Manned Space Agency said, a step that gives Pakistan direct experience of crewed spaceflight.
A Pakistani astronaut is preparing to join China's Shenzhou-24 mission as a payload specialist.
The flight would make the astronaut the first foreign visitor to China's space station.
The brief orbital flight ends with a return on the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft, according to China's Manned Space Agency.
Pakistan and China have cooperated in space since 1990, when Badr-1 was launched on a Chinese rocket.
China's station has opened research slots to nine projects from 17 UN member states in the first round.