Marcos Cesar Pontes (born 11 March 1963) is a Brazilian Air Force pilot,

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, AEB astronaut, politician and author. He became the first South American and the first

Lusophone The Portuguese-speaking world, also known as the Lusophone world () or the Lusophony (''Lusofonia''), comprises the countries and territories in which the Portuguese language is an official, administrative, cultural, or secondary language. This ...

to go into space when he docked onto the International Space Station aboard

Soyuz TMA-8 Soyuz TMA-8 was a Soyuz spacecraft, Soyuz mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched by a Soyuz FG launch vehicle. Crew Soyuz TMA-8 was a transport mission for portions of the International Space Station (ISS) ''Expedition 13'' c ...

on 30 March 2006. He is the only Brazilian to have completed the

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

astronaut training program, although he switched to training in Russia after NASA's

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

program encountered problems. After

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and former military officer who served as the 38th president of Brazil from 2019 to 2023. He previously served as a member of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies (Brazil), Chamb ...

's election as

President of Brazil The president of Brazil (), officially the president of the Federative Republic of Brazil () or simply the ''President of the Republic'', is the head of state and head of government of Brazil. The president leads the executive branch of the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, Pontes was officially nominated to be Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, a post which he accepted days later and assumed when Bolsonaro's government began. He left the post on 31 March 2022 and in the same year was elected federal senator for his state, São Paulo.

Early life

Pontes was born in the town of

Bauru Bauru () is a Brazilian municipality located in the interior of São Paulo state, recognized as the most populous city in the Central-West region of São Paulo. It is one of the 19 municipalities comprising the Bauru Immediate Geographic Region ...

, in the southeastern state of

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

. His father Vergílio was a civil servant of the Instituto Brasileiro do Café and his mother Zuleika was clerk of the Rede Ferroviária Federal (RFFSA).

Air Force and Space career

Pontes is one of the most experienced jet pilots in the

Brazilian Air Force The Brazilian Air Force (, FAB) is the air branch of the Brazilian Armed Forces and one of the three national uniformed services. The FAB was formed when the Brazilian Brazilian Army Aviation (1919–1941), Army and Brazilian Naval Aviation, Nav ...

(FAB), where he holds the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel and has flown more than 2000 hours in 25 different aircraft. In June 1998, he was selected by the

Brazilian Space Agency The Brazilian Space Agency (; AEB) is the civilian authority in Brazil responsible for the country's Space exploration, space program. It operates a spaceport at Centro de Lançamento de Alcântara, Alcântara, and a rocket launch site at Centro ...

to train in the NASA space program after he acquired a space-related background in the Aeronautical Engineering division of the Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (the Aeronautics Institute of Technology, or "ITA"). He began NASA training in August 1998 and qualified as Space Shuttle

Mission Specialist Mission specialist (MS) is a term for a specific position held by astronauts who are tasked with conducting a range of scientific, medical, or engineering experiments during a spaceflight mission. These specialists were usually assigned to a s ...

in December 2000. He attended the

Naval Postgraduate School Naval Postgraduate School (NPS) is a Naval command with a graduate university mission, operated by the United States Navy and located in Monterey, California. The NPS mission is to provide "defense-focused graduate education, including clas ...

of the

US Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

in 1998. Initially, Pontes' maiden space flight was scheduled to be on a Space Shuttle, where he was to help transport the ExPRESS Pallet, which would have been the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

's first Brazilian-made component, into orbit. Negotiations between NASA and AEB (the Brazilian Space Agency) fell through due to budgetary concerns. During the delay, Pontes ran a campaign to pressure the Brazilian government to complete the Express Pallet, and he worked on technical assignments in the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch at NASA. His flight was postponed indefinitely when AEB confirmed that it could not produce the Express Pallet and its components for NASA. On 2 September 2005, an agreement between the governments of Brazil and Russia was reached which provided for Pontes to train at Star City, near

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, to learn about the Soyuz's operational and life-support systems, and to fly to the International Space Station in March 2006. The agreement, which cost about US$20 million was signed by the presidents of the Brazilian and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

space agencies, Sérgio Gaudenzi and Anatoli Perminov, respectively. Pontes' flight coincided with celebrations of the 100th anniversary of Brazilian aviation pioneer

Alberto Santos-Dumont Alberto Santos-Dumont (self-stylised as Alberto Santos=Dumont; 20 July 1873 – 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-t ...

's successful flight of a fixed-wing airplane in Paris in October 1906. On 30 March 2006, Pontes became the first Brazilian and the first native Portuguese-speaking person to go into space, where he stayed on the International Space Station for a week. During his trip, Pontes carried out eight experiments selected by the Brazilian Space Agency. He landed in Kazakhstan on April 8, 2006, with the crew of Expedition 12. Following the Soyuz mission, Pontes returned to his technical duties for the International Space Station Program at the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight in Houston, Texas (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight controller, flight control are conducted. ...

, working with FIESP/SENAI-SP on the development and fabrication of the Brazilian parts for the ISS. Pontes entered the reserve of the Brazilian Air Force and awaits a new space mission. He is also an Invited Researcher at the Institute for Advanced Studies of the

University of São Paulo The Universidade de São Paulo (, USP) is a public research university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo, and the largest public university in Brazil. The university was founded on 25 January 1934, regrouping already existing schools in ...

at São Carlos. He is an ambassador of

UNIDO The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) (French: Organisation des Nations unies pour le développement industriel; French/Spanish acronym: ONUDI) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that assists countries in ...

and

WorldSkills WorldSkills is an international charity that organises world and national championships for vocational education, vocational skills and is held every two years in different parts of the world, and also hosts conferences about vocational skills. Wo ...

. Pontes opened an educational foundation and a tourism agency together with the future Brazilian space tourist Marcos Palhares, who will be traveling to space through the

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic Holdings, Inc. is a British-American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and the Virgin Group conglomerate, which retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and opera ...

. Pontes announced his intention to visit space a second time back in 2009.

Political career

In his 2011 book '' Missão Cumprida'', he also declared that he is interested in a possible candidacy for an unspecified political post in Brazil and he tried to be elected as "Deputado Federal" during the 2014 São Paulo gubernatorial election. In the 2018 São Paulo gubernatorial election he was elected side with Major Olímpio as second alternate in the Senate. On 31 October,

announced that he would be the next Minister of Science and Technology. This choice left the scientific community with polarized opinions, ranging from how the public sees the profession of astronaut in connection with science and the fact that the minister is not an active scientist and researcher, in addition to concern about his lack of political articulation.

Minister of Science

After the disclosure of data on deforestation in the

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

by INPE, discredited by Bolsonaro, Marcos Pontes called the then President of Inpe

Ricardo Galvão Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão (born 21 December 1947) is a prominent Brazilian physicist and engineer, formerly the Director-General of the National Institute for Space Research. He is a full Professor of the Institute of Physics of the Univer ...

to address the way he has been acting in the media and also declared to share "...the strangeness expressed by our President Bolsonaro...". no matter how much he doesn't believe the data to be false. On 7 August 2019 the resignation of Ricardo Galvão was published after his resignation on 2 August. He was exonerated at the request of Bolsonaro. Directors of research centres linked to the Ministry asked Pontes to intercede on behalf of Galvão, something that did not happen. Military Darcton Policarpo Damião was chosen to take over Inpe on an interim basis. In July 2020, he tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. In a survey published by Veja magazine in October 2021, it was revealed that the minister had made 107 international trips, had stayed 1 in 3 days away for travel among his nearly 1000 days in office, had spent more than R$500,000 (US$ ), and was the minister in the Bolsonaro government who traveled abroad the most. This travel expense becomes relevant after he criticized the government for cutting R$600 million (US$ ) from the Science and Technology Ministry.

Works

Besides his work as an astronaut and Air Force commander, Marcos also authored four books: * * * * He also writes articles on his website. The main themes are motivation and space travel.

Controversies

Critics from National Congress

In 2006, Marcos Pontes returned to Brazil after the Missão Centenário, deciding to enter the

Aeronautics Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. While the term originally referred ...

reserve. In this sense, the repercussion around the situation became very wide, due to the indignation that was demonstrated by the National Congress. At first, the

Palácio do Planalto The Palácio do Brazilian Highlands, Planalto () in Brasília is the official workplace of the president of Brazil.

, AEB (

) and Aeronautics expected that Pontes could offer a stimulus factor to the space program and to new adhesions to the Armed Forces, as well as mentoring and training to new astronauts, justifying an investment of 10 million dollars from the Federal Government, strongly defended by the Lula Government, who even talked to the astronaut in videoconference on the International Space Station: "In few moments in the history of Brazil, we were proud of a Brazilian like we are of you. You, when you departed, reminded me of

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

with the national flag," Lula said. After the decision for the inactivity of Marcos Pontes' functions, President Lula did not comment on the choice, which had several frustration pronouncements from other congressmen, such as Walter Pinheiro ( PT), at the time member of the House Science and Technology Commission;

Alberto Goldman Alberto Goldman (; 12 October 1937 – 1 September 2019) was a Brazilian engineer and politician who served as Governor of São Paulo for nine months in 2010 after the resignation of José Serra. He had previously served as Vice Governor of that ...

(

PSDB The Brazilian Social Democracy Party (, PSDB), also known as the Brazilian Social Democratic Party or the Party of Brazilian Social Democracy,. is a centre-right political party in Brazil. As the formerly third largest party in the National ...

), congressman for

in 2006; Orlando Fantazzini ( PSOL) and Sérgio Gaudenzi. In the view of politicians, who expected the return of astronaut learning to the Brazilian Space Program, the entity should create protection mechanisms for possible future investments in other astronauts, taking into account that the services funded by the government are not lost in the private sphere.

Investigation by the Military Prosecutor

In 2006, Pontes was investigated by the Military Prosecutor to determine whether he had violated Article 204 of the Military Penal Code, which prohibits active military involvement in any commercial activity. In the investigation, the MPM inquired about the website Conexão Espacial, owned by the astronaut's press officer, Christiane Gonçalves Corrêa, then owner of the company Portally Eventos e Produções, about the sale of T-shirts and caps with the image of Marcos from 2002 until the date of his departure. In September 2017, documents were released by ''

The Intercept ''The Intercept'' is an American left-wing nonprofit news organization that publishes articles and podcasts online. ''The Intercept'' has published in English since its founding in 2014, and in Portuguese since the 2016 launch of the Brazilia ...

'' newspaper, which showed Marcos' supposed status as a partner in the company, but which had always been denied by him. After the extinctive prescription of the investigation, Pontes became a majority partner of the company, with 80% of participation, while Christiane Corrêa kept 20% of participation. The mother of the advisor, who owned about 45% of the shares, left the firm after Pontes joined. In August 2018, after the investigation had already prescribed, the appeal against Pontes was tabled and filed away by Supreme Court Minister

Rosa Weber Rosa Maria Pires Weber (born 2 October 1948) is a Brazilian magistrate, former justice and former president of the Supreme Federal Court, former president of the Superior Electoral Court and former justice of the Superior Labor Court. Academic ...

Gallery

File:20060330 exp13 05 thumb.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: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:Lula Marcos Pontes.JPG, President Lula during a videoconference with the Brazilian astronaut File:Marcos_Pontes_in_Zvezda.jpg, Pontes in the Zvezda service module

Awards

Marcos received numerous awards through his career.

Brazilian military

Brazilian (non-military)

International

Electoral performance

References

External links

* * * *
Air Force Technological Institute (ITA) Brazilian Space AgencyMarcos Pontes' official website

Marcos Pontes at TEDxHouston 2013
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pontes, Marcos Brazilian astronauts Brazilian engineers 1963 births Living people People from Bauru Recipients of the National Order of Merit (Brazil) Astronaut-politicians Writers from São Paulo Liberal Party (Brazil, 2006) politicians Social Liberal Party (Brazil) politicians Brazilian Socialist Party politicians Democrats (Brazil) politicians Ministers of science and technology of Brazil Spaceflight participants Brazilian autobiographers Amateur radio people Members of the Federal Senate (Brazil) Brazil Union politicians