China has officially selected Muhammad Zeeshan Ali and Khurram Daud as its first foreign astronaut candidates, state media reported on Wednesday. The two men will travel to China to undergo training at the Astronaut Centre of China, with one set to join a mission aboard Tiangong (China's independently operated space station) as a payload specialist — marking the first time a foreign national will fly on the Chinese station. The mission, planned for late 2026, stems from a cooperation agreement signed in February 2025 between Pakistan's space agency Suparco and China's manned space authority, and comes as Beijing expands international partnerships after being barred from the International Space Station since 2011.