China’s space diplomacy lifts Pakistani astronaut toward orbit

KARACHI: 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-navig