Comment now｜Look at China’s role as a major country in aerospace from this “first time”
On November 7, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, a Pakistani astronaut will participate in the Shenzhou 24 manned mission as a payload expert. After completing a short-term on-orbit flight, he will return with the Shenzhou 23 manned spacecraft. This is the first joint flight of Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's manned space project, and the Chinese space station will welcome its first foreign astronaut to visit.
This "first" that China's aerospace history is about to usher in is of symbolic significance. This is not only the direct participation of foreigners that created the record itself, but also the fact that it changed the level of China’s international aerospace cooperation.
International cooperation has risen from the project level to the personnel level
Prior to this, the main form of international cooperation on China's space station was to carry foreign scientific experimental projects upstream, and Chinese astronauts operated it on the orbit. The entry of foreign payload experts into the space station means that cooperation has risen from the project level to the personnel level.
China's manned spaceflight project has always been steady and steady, and this breakthrough international cooperation is no exception.
In February 2025, China and Pakistan signed the "Cooperation Agreement on Selection, Training of Pakistani Astronauts and Participation in Chinese Space Station Missions" in Islamabad, officially launching the selection of Pakistani astronauts. Now, Pakistani astronauts who have undergone a series of strict screening and evaluation are about to fly to the Chinese space station. The rapid progress of cooperation and the high work efficiency are amazing.
What’s even more interesting is that at this moment, Li Jiaying, the first payload expert from Hong Kong, my country, is still “over our heads”. Soon, she and other astronauts will meet the first foreign astronaut on the Chinese Space Station.
The continuous addition of “new faces” points to the fact that the same selection and training system is extending to a wider range. This shows that the opening up of China's aerospace industry is not an accidental and isolated gesture, but an institutional path that has been planned for a long time, has been verified, and is extending outward.
It is worth mentioning that the first foreign astronaut is not targeting a country with the most mature aerospace capabilities, but a developing country with a relatively weak aerospace foundation. This reflects that the threshold for China’s space station does not require membership in the “Club of Aerospace Powers” as a prerequisite, but is closer to a path of cultivating participation capabilities through cooperation itself, and is more inclusive in a greater sense.
China's aerospace industry, which is open and cooperative, demonstrates the responsibility of a major country
In recent years, China's aerospace opening up and cooperation have taken greater and greater steps, and have even gradually become institutionalized, demonstrating a clear sense of responsibility as a great power.
At the beginning of 2022, the State Council Information Office released the white paper "China's Aerospace in 2021", emphasizing the four development principles of innovation leadership, collaboration and efficiency, peaceful development, and cooperation and sharing. In the same year, the National Space Administration issued the "China Aerospace Action Statement to Promote the Building of a New Global Partnership for Space Exploration and Innovation", proposing to promote the building of a new global partnership for space exploration and innovation that is equal, mutually beneficial, open and inclusive, peaceful and beneficial to mankind from eight aspects, and help build a community with a shared future for mankind in the outer space field.
Specific to the Chinese space station, the far-reaching potential for international cooperation was taken into consideration from the beginning of the design. As early as May 2018, the China Manned Space Engineering Office and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs jointly issued an announcement on cooperation opportunities, inviting all United Nations member states to actively participate in international cooperation on space science applications of the Chinese space station in the future. Previously, the first round of international cooperation on the China Space Station had collected 42 proposals submitted by 27 countries, and 9 projects from 17 countries and 23 institutions were finally selected.
Not long ago, Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut and deputy chief designer of the manned spaceflight project, made it clear at the 2026 International Astronautical Congress that the Chinese space station will become an experimental platform open to scientists around the world. "Following, we can carry out in-depth cooperation in scientific research, astronaut training, providing flight opportunities, and popular science education."
The “internationalization” of China’s space exploration goes far beyond that
In fact, the "internationalization" of China's space exploration industry goes far beyond this. For example, Chang'e-5 lunar samples are open for loan to 7 scientific research institutions in 6 countries; China is preparing to build an international lunar scientific research station, and nearly 20 countries and international organizations have responded; in the future, the Chang'e-8 mission (planned to be launched around 2029) will open up 200 kilograms of payload resources to the international community, covering a variety of scientific instruments and systems, such as the Pakistani lunar rover, the Italian laser corner reflector array, the Thai lunar neutron analyzer, etc.
Looking to the future, this cooperation with Pakistan is just a starting point. A short-term visit by a foreign payload expert can only increase technology in a limited way. Its real value lies in establishing precedents and opening up channels. The complete process of the China-Pakistan Agreement from signing to selection, training, and flight will provide a set of operational templates for latecomers to refer to.
Currently, the International Space Station is approaching retirement, and the global manned spaceflight is at a time when the platform pattern is being adjusted. For countries that have long been excluded from the traditional manned space cooperation framework, a space station that can train its astronauts, provide flight opportunities, and allow them to conduct experiments under their own national scientific goals is itself a scarce public good.
The China Space Station will welcome the first foreign astronaut to visit, opening up a new space for cooperation in space exploration. This open road to work side by side with the world will only get wider and farther.
