CHINA'S SPACE DIPLOMACY LIFTS PAKISTANI ASTRONAUT TOWARD ORBIT

Two Pakistani pilots are memorising Mandarin, spinning in centrifuge drills and learning to eat, sleep and repair equipment while weightless ​as a decision nears on which one will become the first foreign astronaut aboard China's Tiangong space station.

The voyage into space would be a first for the ‌South Asian nation. It is part of broader cooperation with Beijing that straddles the Belt and Road Initiative and has produced Chinese-launched Pakistani satellites, a joint satellite-navigation system and a Pakistani-built rover due to fly on China's Chang'e 8 lunar mission around 2028.

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