China trains Pakistani pilots to buy alignment in orbit

By Tom Beckwith · Reporting from Washington · September 28, 2026

Beijing is training two Pakistani pilots for an orbital flight to Tiangong, using space access to secure client loyalty while locking Islamabad into Chinese technological standards.

Interests first, capabilities second, statements last

When major powers distribute seats in orbit, they are not engaged in charity or scientific outreach. They are buying strategic alignment. According to Global Times, China’s State Council Information Office held a press conference in Beijing. Yang Liwei, deputy chief designer of China’s manned space program and senior astronaut, announced that Pakistani astronauts are currently undergoing training at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center. In the near future, they will fly aboard China’s space station together with Chinese astronauts. This is the logic of Interkosmos at work. Interkosmos was an international Soviet space program designed to promote cooperation among socialist countries in space exploration and research. Formed in April 1967 in Moscow, it was led by the Soviet Union. The program primarily involved allied or friendly countries from the Eastern Bloc and Non-Aligned Movement, which were provided training and technical support with crewed and uncrewed space missions. A dominant space power leverages crewed orbital access to cement strategic alliances with client states lacking independent launch capabilities.

Pakistan lacks an independent crewed spacecraft and an independent orbital launch vehicle. Beijing possesses both. As reported by India Today and UA.NEWS, two Pakistani pilots—Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud—were selected from finalists. They underwent rigorous medical examinations, psychological assessments, and tests of ability to withstand high gravitational forces. Amer Gilani, who oversees human spaceflight cooperation at Pakistan's space agency Suparco, told Reuters that a final decision on which pilot will fly is expected in mid-to-late October. The selected astronaut will serve as a payload specialist responsible for conducting scientific experiments during a mission expected to last a week. This mission was conceived by China and Pakistan in 2019. The chosen candidate will launch from China and return to Pakistan only after recovering from the mission.

The cost of dependence over five years

Some analysts will argue that this is merely harmless bilateral scientific exchange, a routine stepping stone for a developing nation eager to touch the stars. The strongest opposing case holds that space exploration is a universal good that should transcend terrestrial rivalries. Allowing Pakistani researchers to test biotechnology experiments for climate change and food insecurity represents genuine multilateral cooperation. This view misreads the architecture of power. Pakistan's space agency Suparco received experiment proposals from universities in Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. However, Chinese institutions selected only four biotechnology experiments focused on climate change and food insecurity, which must be developed and tested in Pakistan before approval for flight by Chinese engineers. The Pakistani astronaut will communicate in Chinese while aboard the station, using a Chinese spacecraft and spaceport. The candidate will return to Earth with Chinese crew members who arrived at the station, while another member stays to study human physiology.

The capabilities tell the whole story. The Tiangong space station consists of modules—Tianhe, Wentian, and Mengtian—with a combined mass of approximately 77 tonnes. Pakistan brings no launch capacity to this arrangement. What Islamabad provides is geopolitical loyalty, neatly bound to Beijing's broader Belt and Road Initiative. Dawn notes that this cooperation straddles Chinese-launched Pakistani satellites, a joint satellite-navigation system, and a Pakistani-built rover using AI-based stereo imaging for the Chang’e 8 lunar mission. Price this move five years out. Pakistan binds its domestic technical cadre to Chinese standards, software protocols, and launch schedules, ensuring that any future planetary or orbital ambitions remain wholly subordinate to Beijing's strategic perimeter.

The predictable rhythm of patronage

States do not maintain permanent friendships; they maintain permanent interests. Beijing’s decision to transport a foreign astronaut is a calculated response to its legislative exclusion from Western consortia like the International Space Station, driven by the American Wolf Amendment. By opening Tiangong to Islamabad, China has operationalized low Earth orbit as a diplomatic instrument. Earlier, Beijing hosted Hong Kong payload specialist Li Jiaying aboard the Shenzhou-23 mission to operate the Multi-spectral Imaging Carbon Observer.

We have watched this film before. The Soviet Union flew cosmonauts from allied states to Salyut and Mir to secure regional obedience without transferring foundational rocket engineering. Beijing is executing the exact same play with better avionics. When Zeeshan Ali or Khurram Daud ascends to Tiangong this October, the flight will be celebrated in Islamabad as a national triumph. However, the launch vehicle will belong to Beijing, the trajectory will be calculated in Beijing, and the political debt will be collected across South Asia for decades.

China trains Pakistani pilots to buy alignment in orbit

Interests first, capabilities second, statements last

The cost of dependence over five years

The predictable rhythm of patronage

Sources