Two Pakistani pilots — Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud — have spent months training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center in Beijing, according to Reuters. They are memorising Mandarin, doing centrifuge drills, and learning to eat, sleep and repair equipment in weightlessness.

A final decision on which pilot will fly is expected in mid-to-late October 2026. Whoever is chosen will become the first foreign astronaut aboard China's Tiangong space station. The chosen pilot will fly as a payload specialist running Pakistan's science experiments, not operating the spacecraft.

The mission was conceived by China and Pakistan in 2019, with formal support reaffirmed in a joint statement in May 2026. SUPARCO's human-spaceflight cooperation chief Amer Gilani said the two pilots beat out roughly 20 finalists culled from an initial pool of Pakistani pilots and scientists, screened for medical fitness, psychological resilience and tolerance for high g-forces.

The flight is part of broader China-Pakistan space cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, alongside Chinese-launched Pakistani satellites, a joint satellite-navigation system and a Pakistani-built rover set to fly on China's Chang'e 8 lunar mission around 2028.