First foreign astronaut to board Chinese space station

BEIJING, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- A Pakistani astronaut will join the Shenzhou-24 crewed flight mission as a payload specialist, the China Manned Space Agency said on Saturday.

After completing a short on-orbit flight, the Pakistani astronaut will return to Earth aboard the Shenzhou-23 spacecraft.

The mission will mark the first joint flight involving Chinese and foreign astronauts in the history of China's manned space program.