Brazil’s first astronaut, Marcos Pontes, was launched into space aboard a Soyuz space craft from the Russian base at Baikonur in Kazakhstan early on Thursday along with his Russian and United States colleagues.
The Soyuz FG rocket took off at 2.30am GMT on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) with Pontes, Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and US astronaut Jeffrey Williams aboard.
The rocket was to release the Soyuz TMA-8 docking vessel, with the three astronauts aboard, at an altitude of more than 200km.
It is due to dock on Saturday with the orbiting ISS, the only space station operating since the demise of Russia’s Mir orbiter in 2001.
”We are happy we can play a part in the mission of the first Brazilian astronaut. He will undoubtedly become a national hero for Brazil,” said Vyacheslav Davidenko, spokesperson for Russia’s space agency Roskosmos.
”Marcos Pontes will allow his country to join the club of space powers,” Davidenko said.
Pontes, a 43-year-old Brazilian air force officer, has been training since last October at Star City near Moscow, following training since 1998 at the Johnson space centre in Texas.
The Brazilian astronaut and his colleagues arrived in Baikonur on March 18.
During the mission, Pontes will carry out nine scientific, medical and biological experiments, including in the field of nanotechnology. He will also examine Brazilian territory from space.
Ahead of his departure, Pontes admitted to problems with the Russian language and some trouble adapting to freezing winter weather in Russia but said he was sad to leave after making so many Russian friends.
Vinogradov and Williams will remain on the ISS for six months but Pontes is set to return to earth on April 9 together with astronauts from a previous mission, William MacArthur of the United States and Russia’s Valery Tokarev, who have been in space since October 2005. ‒ Sapa-AP