Pontes will begin training this month at Russia's Star City, outside Moscow, for a flight in a Soyuz rocket to the International Space Station that could take place in April next year, the space agency, Roskosmos, said in a news release.

"Marcus Pontes will get acquainted with the workings of the Soyuz vessels," the statement said.

An agreement on the flight should be signed by November 1, the statement added.

Talks on settling details of the flight are to take place between officials from the two countries in Brasilia on Thursday.

Pontes has previously undertaken astronaut's training at the US space centre in Houston in 2002.

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