Brazilian Astronaut Has Already Ticket for Space Trip: March 23

Brazilian astronaut Marcos PontesThe journey of the first Brazilian astronaut to space already has a set date. Marcos Pontes, lieutenant colonel at the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), will fly to the International Space Station (ISS) on the 23rd of March in 2006, inside the Russian spaceship Soyuz.

The official contract for the mission will be signed by the presidents of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the Russian Space Agency (Roskosmos) on the 18th of October, during the visit by the Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to Russia.

The two agencies have signed a pre-contract in the beginning of October. Pontes should help in the maintenance and set up of the ISS and will carry out experiments created by Brazilian institutions during the mission. The astronaut will be in space for 15 days.

Pontes, who was in training at the North American Space Agency (Nasa), has already left to the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, in Moscow, also known as the Star City. According to an interview given by the astronaut in August, the training is made up of technical classes on systems, simulators, assembly and disassembly of components, complementary systems and techniques, operational procedures, communications procedures and technical documentation.

For the flight, the Brazilian government will pay the Russians from US$ 12 million to US$ 15 million. As well as that, the government has committed itself to invest US$ 80 million directly on the national industries, during six years, for the production and exports of parts and equipments to be used in the station. This investment is part of the international agreement made with another 16 countries for the assembly and maintenance of the ISS.

The ISS is a scientific project developed by Russia, United States, Japan, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, England, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Holland, Spain and Brazil.

Profile

Marcos Pontes was born in Bauru, city in the interior of the southeastern Brazilian state of São Paulo, and started working as an electrician at the Federal Railroad System at the age of 14 to pay for his studies. As well as graduating as a military pilot at the FAB, Pontes also studied aeronautical engineering at the ITA (Technological Institute of Aeronautics, the Brazilian Air Force university). In 1998 he enrolled for the astronaut selection and was chosen.

The astronaut will take to space a Brazilian flag and the hat of the Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont. In 2006 is celebrated the centennial of the historical flight of the 14-Bis at the Bagatelle Field, aircraft built by Santos-Dumont and the first to take off and land on its own means.

This article appeared originally in ANBA – www.anba.com.br.

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil Cuts Key Interest to Record Low, But It’s Still World’s Highest

For the ninth time in a row in a process that started last September, ...

Germany Wants Closer Economic Ties with Brazil

Around 30 representatives from the state of Baden-Württemberg, one of Germany’s most important economic ...

Stop Shaking, Rio’s Trafficker Tells Foreign Reporter, You’d Be Dead If We Wanted

The correspondent of Spain's daily El Paí­s, Francho Barón, was attacked and threatened in ...

Brazil Court Maintains One Year Sentence Against Professor for Defamation

Brazilian Professor Emir Sader was sentenced in October 2006 to one year in prison ...

Macau Delegation in Brazil for Business

Today the chief executive of the Special Administrative Region of Macau, Edmund Ho, will ...

Deluge Lasted 40 Days, São Paulo Rains Have Fallen Daily for 36

Due to the heavy rains that have fallen since the end of last year, ...

Brazil’s Author Paulo Coelho Talks About His Love for Islam

Paulo Coelho, the Brazilian writer who took the world stage with his thundering book ...

MST, the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement

Lula Is Back. Now Is the Time for Brazil to Demand Changes

Now that the election has passed, the votes counted, and the winners and losers ...

Brazil Petrobras’ Production Reaches Over 2.3 Million Barrels a Day

Petrobras began operating this week a new oil rig with an estimated initial daily ...

Bradesco Expects Key Brazil Interest Rate to Jump from 8.75% to 13%

According to Bradesco Asset Management, Brazil will boost interest rates to as high as ...