Pakistan’s planning minister says the country’s first astronaut will begin a space mission from China on 25 November 2026. The date appears in an 18 October statement from Pakistan’s Planning Ministry, alongside a separate ambition for a lunar landing by 2035. Neither announcement means a Pakistani astronaut is headed to the Moon.
China’s space agency has confirmed a Pakistani astronaut training programme. Its public updates reviewed through 24 October 2026, however, do not announce a 25 November launch or identify which trainee would fly. The minister’s date is Pakistan’s announced timetable, rather than a confirmed flight schedule from the mission operator.
What is confirmed about the astronaut programme
Pakistan’s space agency, SUPARCO, says it signed a cooperation agreement with the China Manned Space Agency in February 2025. The agreement covers training Pakistani astronauts for a mission to the China Space Station, which orbits Earth. SUPARCO said two people would train and one would be selected for a flight.
In an April 2026 announcement, the Chinese agency said two Pakistani candidates had been selected as reserve astronauts. One would join a station mission after completing training and passing assessments. At a 23 May briefing, it said both were training in China and one was expected to undertake a short flight as a payload specialist. Neither update set a November launch date.
A payload specialist’s role centres on research during the mission. SUPARCO lists possible areas of study that include biological sciences, materials and fluid behaviour in space. Those are programme plans, not a confirmed list of experiments for a specific flight or results already achieved. The final participant, mission arrangements and research programme still need a mission-specific announcement.
The Moon plans are different
At the October event, Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal also said Pakistan aims for a lunar landing by 2035. The ministry’s statement does not say whether this would involve people or robotic equipment. It gives no vehicle or detailed mission plan. Describing the goal as a scheduled human Moon landing would go beyond what was announced.
SUPARCO separately describes a robotic rover planned for China’s Chang’e-8 Moon mission, currently targeted for 2028. The agency says its roughly 35-kilogram rover is intended to explore the lunar south pole. This is proposed robotic work on the Moon’s surface, not the astronaut mission to a station in Earth orbit.
The rover plan also does not explain what the minister meant by a landing by 2035. Until Pakistan publishes more detail, the two lunar statements should not be treated as one confirmed mission.
What to watch next
A Chinese mission announcement identifying the flight participant, spacecraft and launch timetable would clarify whether the 25 November date will hold. For the longer-term Moon goal, the useful next evidence would be a programme outline specifying what is meant to land, who would carry it and the milestones between now and 2035.
