The Missão Centenário was born of an agreement between the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and the Roscosmos on October 18, 2005. The main objective of this treaty would be to send the first Brazilian into space, Lt. Col. Aviator Marcos Pontes. The name of the mission is a reference to the commemoration of the centenary of the first crewed flight of a Brazilian-designed aircraft, the Santos-Dumont 14-bis, in Paris on October 23, 1906. The vehicle used for launching the mission was the Roscosmos Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft, and its launch took place on March 30, 2006 (11:30 p.m Brasília time) at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...

( Kazakhstan) to International Space Station (ISS).

Bilateral agreement for the mission

The ''Missão Centenário'' was made possible by an commercial agreement signed in October 2005 between Brazil and Russia, with representatives of the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) and Roscosmos. As a result, astronaut Marcos Cesar Pontes began training in Star City, a training center for cosmonauts near Moscow.

Launch

The Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft carrying Lieutenant Colonel Marcos Pontes was launched at 11:30 p.m. on March 30, 2006 ( Brasília time, 8:30 p.m. in the morning of April 1, 2006 in Kazakhstan time) . Besides the Brazilian astronaut, the crew were the Russian Pavel Vinogradov and the American Jeffrey Williams, these two members of Expedition 13. When Pavel Vinagrodov hooked up the cabin video camera to Marcos Pontes during the launch, the Brazilian did not know what to say. He thought of waving, but that did not express what he felt, then he pointed to the flag and then up, meaning that they were all together, but he thought "wait a moment, pointing with one finger does not give the impression of 'together'!". So he pointed with two, as you can see in the video of the mission. The spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) in the early hours of Saturday, April 1. Prior to entry to the International Space Station, the international protocol included the following order: Pavel, Jeff and Marcos. But when Pavel noticed Marcos with the Brazilian flag in his hands, he told him to come in first. Marcos replied that they might have problems. To this, the Russian replied that it would not be Marcos who would be entering the front, but a

whole nation Israel has numerous minor political parties. Under the proportional representation electoral system used to elect members of the Knesset, parties required only 1% of the vote to win a seat in the legislature until the 1992 elections, when the ele ...

, and neither he nor Jeff would have the right to enter before a nation.

Experiments

Lt. Col. Marcos Pontes carried out eight scientific experiments at ISS, so that their behavior in a

microgravity environment The term micro-g environment (also μg, often referred to by the term microgravity) is more or less synonymous with the terms ''weightlessness'' and ''zero-g'', but emphasising that g-forces are never exactly zero—just very small (on the I ...

could be analyzed. Here are the experiments performed: The educational experiments from the list above were accompanied by students from schools in São José dos Campos through the Internet, while conducting the same experiments on ground.

Interviews

During his stay at ISS, Marcos Pontes conducted some interviews by video-conference. On April 3, 2006, an interview was broadcast in honour of

Santos Dumont Alberto Santos-Dumont ( Palmira, 20 July 1873 — Guarujá, 23 July 1932) was a Brazilian aeronaut, sportsman, inventor, and one of the few people to have contributed significantly to the early development of both lighter-than-air and heavier- ...

, in which Marcos Pontes used a Panama hat like the inventor and a handkerchief with the acronym "SD".

Return

The

Soyuz TMA-7 Soyuz TMA-7 (russian: Союз ТМА-7) was a transport mission for portions of the International Space Station (ISS) ''Expedition 12'' crew launched October 1, 2005. The flight delivered ISS Commander William McArthur and ISS Flight Engineer ...

brought in the night of April 8, 2006, Brasilia time, the Ten. Col. Marcos Pontes and two other astronauts from Expedition 12 (Russian

Valery Tokarev Valeri Ivanovich Tokarev (russian: Валерий Иванович Токарев; born 29 October 1952) is a Russian Air Force Colonel and test cosmonaut at the Yuri A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. Tokarev traveled to space twice, and has ...

and American William McArthur) who were already on the ISS. The landing point was in Kazakhstan. For the rescue, 17 Russian MI-8 helicopters were used, and the area of the landing was around the city Arclalic, within a radius of 60 to 80 km away from it. After the return, the three astronauts underwent a period of readaptation to gravity.

Total duration of the mission

Marcos Pontes performed 155 orbits and the total duration of his mission was 9 days, 21 hours and 17 minutes.

Patch

The patch of the Missão Centenário was produced jointly by Secom, MCT and AEB.

Commemorative acts

As a celebration for this mission that was the first to bring a Brazilian astronaut into space, as well as being a tribute to the centenary of the first flight of an aircraft heavier than the air of Santos Dumont in Europe, stamps and a medal were released.

Criticism

The mission was criticized by part the Brazilian scientific community, such as the

Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência Sociedade Brasileira para o Progresso da Ciência (Portuguese for ''Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science'') is a Brazilian scientific society created in 1948 by several prominent scientists, with the aim of promoting science, culture a ...

(SBPC), according to which the money invested in the mission should be used to train staff as well as investing in other types of scientific research. In addition, they report the non-compliance of the Brazilian participation in the construction of the ISS. Other critics denounced the political use and crossed out the trip as space tourism. The Brazilian Space Agency and Marcos Pontes rebuffed these criticisms, saying that the space program has never had so much visibility in the press, which would make it possible in the future to allocate more funds for space exploration. In addition, the mission may encourage children to study and pursue a scientific career."Marcos Pontes rebate críticas e defende missão brasileira" "07/04/2006"
/ref>

Gallery

File:Marcos Pontes at the Cosmonaut Hotel in Baikonur.jpg, Pontes signing the Baikonur Cosmodrome checkout hotel room, an Astronaut/Cosmonaut tradition File:Expedition 13 crew2.jpg, Marcos (center) with his crew members in the Soyuz factory File:Jsc2006e11926.jpg, Greeting guests while at Baikonur on launch day File:Train bringing the rocket to the launching area.jpg, Train bringing the rocket to the launching area File:SoyuzTMA8 Launch.jpg, Launch of Soyuz TMA-8 on March 30, 2006 File:Iss soyuztma8 launch sa 2.jpg, Pontes inside the Soyuz during launch to the ISS File:Abertura da escotilha da Estação Espacial Internacional e boas vindas à nova tripulação.webm, ISS Conference File:Marcos Pontes entrando na Estação Espacial.jpg, Hatch opening File:Soyuz_TMA-7_spacecraft_departs_from_the_ISS.jpg, Soyuz TMA-7 leaving the Station with the Brazilian astronaut File:Lula Marcos Pontes.JPG, President Lula during a video-conference with the Brazilian astronaut, Marcos Pontes. File:Soyuz TMA-7 landing site.jpg, Crew from

after landing with Marcos Pontes File:Sérgio_Goudenzi.jpg, Speech by Sergio Gaudenzi during the launch of commemorative stamp and medal. File:Soyuz TMA-8 launch.jpg, Launch of the Soyuz TMA-8 with Jeffrey Williams, Pavel Vinogradov and Marcos Pontes on March 30, 2006

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2005 in Brazil 2006 in Brazil 2005 in Russia 2006 in Russia Space program of Brazil 2006 in spaceflight Astronautics Alberto Santos-Dumont International Space Station