Beijing, Apr 23 (PTI) Two Pakistani astronauts will be selected to receive spaceflight training in China to take part in a joint mission to the country's space station, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Wednesday.

One of the two Pakistanis will have a chance to participate in a joint space mission as payload specialist, state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) spokesperson as saying.

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The CMSA spokesperson was speaking with the media at Jiuquan in northwestern China.

In February, CMSA had announced that China plans to send an astronaut from its all-weather ally Pakistan as its first foreign guest to its space station, currently orbiting 400 kms above the earth.

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This followed an agreement signed between CMSA and Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission in Islamabad.

After the agreement, CMSA said the space station named Tiangong is expected to welcome its first foreign visitor, a Pakistani astronaut.

The agreement included bilateral efforts to select and train Pakistani astronauts and then send some of them to China's Tiangong space station, which has been in orbit for nearly four years.

China has also been launching satellites for Pakistan for the past few years.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)