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Matías S. Zavia
WriterAerospace and energy industries journalist at Xataka.
Alba Mora
WriterAn established tech journalist, I entered the world of consumer tech by chance in 2018. In my writing and translating career, I've also covered a diverse range of topics, including entertainment, travel, science, and the economy.
In the coming years, China’s Tiangong space station is expected to welcome its first crew member from another nation, Pakistan. Although the mission will be brief, it marks a significant shift: China is opening up to international collaboration, while the U.S. is becoming more isolated.
An agreement. China and Pakistan signed an agreement on Friday, establishing a cooperation framework to train Pakistani astronauts and conduct the first international missions to the Tiangong space station.
Starting in May, China and Pakistan will spend a year selecting Pakistani astronauts. They’ll receive training in China and join their Chinese counterparts for short-term missions aboard the orbital laboratory.
China-Pakistan relations. Pakistan was one of the first countries to recognize the People’s Republic of China in 1950. Over the years, the two nations have strengthened their ties in several areas, including economic, military, and technological collaboration. Notably, according to the CIA, China played a role in developing Pakistan’s nuclear program in the 1980s.
In recent years, Pakistan has sought to enhance its space capabilities through collaboration with neighboring China. In May, it was among the countries that contributed experiments to the Chang’e-6 lunar probe, which made China the first nation to successfully retrieve rock samples from the far side of the Moon.
What Tiangong symbolizes. China decided to develop its own space station after the U.S. banned any direct collaboration between NASA and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). As such, the U.S. prevented China from participating in the International Space Station.
China first tested two prototypes: Tiangong-1 between 2011 and 2018, and Tiangong-2 between 2016 and 2019. The Asian nation then launched the first module of its permanent space station in 2021. The Tiangong space station consists of three modules and has been continuously inhabited since 2022. Astronaut rotation missions initially occurred every three months but later extended to every six months.
The decline of the ISS. With 16 pressurized modules, the ISS has long been a prime example of international cooperation. However, structural fatigue is becoming a concern, and maintenance costs have been increasing.
The official plan suggests keeping the ISS operational until 2030, after which it’ll be towed to a safe location to disintegrate upon reentering the atmosphere. Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, plans to establish its own space station by that time, while NASA is optimistic that a variety of commercial space stations will succeed the ISS.
The future of low Earth orbit. Aiming to fill the void left by the ISS after 2030, several companies are developing commercial space stations to provide services such as space tourism and microgravity experiments. Notable examples include Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Voyager Space, and Airbus.
China also has ambitious plans for its Tiangong space station, which is set to expand from three to six modules in the coming years. As part of its international collaboration, it’ll begin hosting astronauts from other countries. Additionally, an important upcoming milestone is the launch of the Xuntian space telescope, scheduled for 2026. This telescope will share the same orbit with the space station (at an altitude of 250 miles) and will be capable of docking with it for maintenance and upgrades.
China fills the power vacuum. When NASA officially steps away from low Earth orbit, or hands over responsibilities to its commercial partners, China will seize the opportunity to fill that gap. This will allow China to host astronauts from other countries, taking advantage of the U.S.’s reduced emphasis on international cooperation.
This isn’t the first time China has stepped in where the U.S. has retreated from space exploration. A similar situation occurred on the Moon when NASA largely neglected it after the Apollo missions. During this period, CNSA seized the opportunity to achieve significant milestones, such as landing on the far side of the Moon and returning the first rock samples.
A new era. Following SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s persuasion of President Donald Trump that lunar missions are a distraction, NASA is now focusing on Mars and the Artemis missions are under scrutiny. This shift provides China with a unique opportunity.
China could establish a de facto international space station in low Earth orbit and achieve a series of milestones that NASA had planned. If Artemis falters, it’s possible that the first woman to walk on the Moon could be Chinese. Moreover, China might lead the way in creating the first lunar orbital station and the first manned lunar base. The Asian nation is clearly well-positioned in this changing landscape.
Image | driver Photographer
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