{"id":530090,"date":"2026-02-08T01:51:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:51:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/?p=530090"},"modified":"2026-02-08T01:51:23","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T20:51:23","slug":"two-pakistani-astronauts-shortlisted-for-space-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/two-pakistani-astronauts-shortlisted-for-space-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Pakistani astronauts shortlisted for space mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> ISLAMABAD<br \/>\nThe Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) has achieved yet another significant milestone in Pakistan\u2019s Human Spaceflight Programme with the successful completion of the secondary phase of astronaut candidates\u2019 selection.<br \/>\nFollowing an initial screening process in Pakistan, two candidates have been shortlisted after undergoing comprehensive medical, psychological and aptitude assessments conducted at the Astronauts Centre of China (ACC), in accordance with international human spaceflight standards, said a statement issued by the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) in Rawalpindi on Saturday.<br \/>\nThe shortlisted candidates will undertake advanced astronaut training for six months at ACC. Upon completion of training, one candidate will be selected for a spaceflight mission aboard the Chinese Space Station (CSS) in October\/November 2026.<br \/>\nThis cooperation is anchored on the bilateral \u201cAstronaut Cooperation Agreement\u201d, signed in February 2025, under the leadership of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, whose vision and support were instrumental in enabling Pakistan\u2019s participation in human spaceflight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) has achieved yet another significant milestone in Pakistan\u2019s Human Spaceflight Programme with the successful completion of the secondary phase of astronaut candidates\u2019 selection. Following an initial screening process in Pakistan, two candidates have been shortlisted after undergoing comprehensive medical, psychological and aptitude assessments conducted at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":530115,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-530090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Two Pakistani astronauts shortlisted for space mission<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadpakistan.com.pk\/news\/two-pakistani-astronauts-shortlisted-for-space-mission\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Pakistani astronauts shortlisted for space mission\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD The Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) has achieved yet another significant milestone in Pakistan\u2019s Human Spaceflight Programme with the successful completion of the secondary phase of astronaut candidates\u2019 selection. 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