Human Spaceflight
Marcos Pontes, a lieutenant colonel in the Brazilian Air Force, is an astronaut of the Brazilian Space Agency. Pontes was the first Brazilian astronaut, having launched with the Expedition 13 crew from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 29, 2006 aboard a Soyuz-TMA spacecraft. Pontes docked with the International Space Station (ISS) on March 31, 2006, where he lived and worked for 9 days. Pontes returned to Earth with the Expedition 12 crew, landing in Kazakhstan on April 8, 2006. Currently, Pontes continues with his technical duties for the International Space Station program in the development and fabrication of the Brazilian parts for the ISS. He is on stand-by for training for future Brazilian space flights.
| Name | Position | Time in space | Launch date | Mission | Mission insignia | Status | |
| Marcos Pontes | Mission Specialist | 9d 21h 17m | March 30, 2006 | Soyuz TMA-8 Soyuz TMA-7 |
|
Active, on stand-by |
Read more about this topic: Brazilian Space Agency
Famous quotes containing the word human:
“Whoever considers morality the main objective of human existence, seems to me like a person who defines the purpose of a clock as not going wrong. The first objective for a clock, is, however, that it does run; not going wrong is an additional regulative function. If not a watch’s greatest accomplishment were not going wrong, unwound watches might be the best.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)