Marcos Pontes
- Soyuz TMA -7 TMA-8/Sojus (2006)
Marcos Cesar Pontes ( born March 11, 1963 in Bauru, State of São Paulo, Brazil) is the first and only Brazilian astronaut.
Biography
Marcos comes from Bauru, capital of the homonymous municipality in the state of São Paulo. His father worked for the government Virgílio coffee IBC Institute (Instituto Brasileiro do Café) and is now retired. His mother Zuleika was an employee of the now private railway company RFFSA ( Sociedade Anonima speech Ferroviária Federal ) and passed away in June 2002. His older siblings Luiz Carlos and Rosa Maria still live in Bauru.
By his own admission Marcos spent in Bauru a carefree childhood. While his parents were working, his sister took care of him. He learned early to stand on its own. After primary school, he had to even earn the money to finish school. During the day he worked as an apprentice with the RFFSA, was trained as an electrician, and in the evening he learned the " Colégio Técnico Liceu Noroeste ". After three years he became a high school in 1980.
He attended in February 1981, the Brazilian Lufwaffenakademie AFA ( Força Aérea Academia da ) in Pirassununga ( State of São Paulo). Besides studying, he made there a pilot training. In 1984, he was able to both successfully complete: he received a bachelor's in aerospace engineering and received his pilot's license.
After a one-year advanced course at the Centro de Aplicações Táticas e Recompletamento de Equipagens ( catre ) in Natal ( State of Rio Grande do Norte) Pontes was born in 1986 to Fliegergruppe 3/10 to Santa Maria (Rio Grande do Sul ). He was assigned to the Fighter Wing " Centauro ". For three years he perfected there be flying skills until he prepared in February 1989, the entrance exam at the prestigious Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (ITA ). The little family - his son was now born - moved to São José dos Campos (São Paulo). In December, he passed the ordeal, and then continued his studies, he had five years earlier, let it rest. At the Centro Tecnológico de Aeronáutica (CTA ), he took the tray aeronautical engineering, graduating with a Bachelor further in 1993.
Always looking for new challenges, he succeeded in the last year on the CTA to get one of the few places in the test pilot course. It was the best opportunity to combine the main theoretical subjects with practice for Pontes. The Test Pilot School (AEV Divisão de Ensaios em Vôo ) belongs to the Air and Space Institute (Instituto de Aeronáutica e Espaço ) of the CTA and is nationally the only of its kind, he not only learned the handling of machines of the F-15 "Eagle " F -16 " Fighting Falcon " F/A-18 " Hornet " F-5E "Tiger II" and MiG- 29 " Fulcrum ", but he was also in the tests of the Brazilian short-range air - to-air missile MAA been 1 " Piranha " involved.
In 1996, Marcos Pontes in the United States. The whole family Pontes - Marcos, his wife, their two children and the family dog - flew with five suitcases in the luggage first to Los Angeles and then on to Monterey. Marcos was one of about 800 students every year who come to the California coastal town of Monterey and visit the Naval Postgraduate School (NPS ). He studied four semester system technology, and laid in the summer of 1998 at the NPS the exam to master from. He was so good that in proposing to make even his doctor.
Spaceman activity
In 1997, Brazil decided to participation in the International Space Station ( ISS). Content of the intergovernmental agreement in the amount of 120 million U.S. dollars were designing and building some of the experiments as well as the flight of a Brazilian to the ISS.
Since Brazil does not maintain its own manned space program, agreed the Brazilian space agency AEB ( Agência Brasileira Espacial ) with NASA a cooperation agreement for the selection, training and flight. The AEB launched a nationwide call. All interested parties who meet the qualifications for NASA mission specialist and wanted to represent their country in the universe, should apply. The applicants had to be aged between 25 and 45, be trained military pilots or may have completed a study of aviation. Moreover, it was a prerequisite to master English, written and spoken fluently. Registration deadline was May 22, 1998 After the first sighting of 40 candidates remained, of which there are five -. Everything military pilots - in the finals managed ( Jose Augusto Carvalho Benoliel, hiking Almodovar Golfetto, Mozart Marques Louzada, Luiz Alberto Cocentino Munaretto and the then 35 -year-old air Force captain Marcos Cesar Pontes ). After the obligatory medical tests and an interview conducted in English Pontes was selected in June 1998.
Together with four colleagues reinforced by ESA and a Canadian Pontes the 17th astronaut group of NASA. The entire 31 -member squad began in August 1998 at the Johnson Space Center in Houston (Texas ), the two-year basic training.
Already during basic training Pontes took main identities within the Astronaut Office. From 1999 he was responsible for the integration testing of new components for the ISS over the next three years. Then he took care of the computer programs of the station: first, he supervised the operating system (2000-2001), he had to ensure that bugs were removed ( 2001-2002). After that, he oversaw the development of the centrifuge module ( CAM), the logistics modules and the solar array. Since 2003 he is the contact person for the Japanese Kibo module and the connection node Harmony.
Originally Pontes had been promised, by about 2001 or 2002 to be able to fly aboard a shuttle to the ISS. But budget cuts that forced NASA, ISS not be able to drive as often as expected, and the Brazilian equipment, the time was not ready, shifts made inevitable. Finally, there was the Columbia disaster in early February 2003 and the suspension of further space shuttle flights that made a start for unpromising Pontes with the Americans in the foreseeable future.
Since a working visit in the spring of 2005, the representative of the Russian space agency Roskosmos who made everyone their Brazilian colleagues, was negotiated on a bilateral agreement to bring Pontes with a Soyuz spacecraft to the space station. On 5 September 2005, Roskosmos announced that both sides had agreed to the effect that the Brazilian likely could fly aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS in April 2006. It would only be a few details openly about which one still negotiating the next few weeks. The competent intergovernmental Commission said on October 4, the treaty is now ready for signature and a " preliminary agreement " was signed. Brazilian President Lula da Silva sealed the 20 - million - dollar contract finally during his visit to Moscow on 18 October 2005.
Since September 2005, Pontes trained in Star City near Moscow for his week-long use as Bordingieneur on Soyuz TMA -8. At the end of training on 8 February 2006 declared Pontes that an essential handicap was the language - three months are just too little to master a language. Meanwhile, he could indeed understand Russian, but the answers are not rich. He would respond in a gibberish. But the team had learned to understand each other.
Pontes ' flight began on 30 March 2006. What significance did the company for its home, it can be seen that in the football nation in a nationally transmitted Cup game was just interrupted to show the launch live. Pontes took his hand next to the national flag with a jersey of the Brazilian national team and football in the national colors. After the Soyuz TMA -8 had two days later reached the ISS, the work program of the South American included eight experiments. Pontes was also left to the honor, to enter first the space station - then followed Pavel Vinogradov and Jeff Williams. After a week of the visit of the first Brazilian to the ISS ended. Together with Valery Tokarev and Bill McArthur ( Expedition ISS - 12 ), he returned on April 8, back to Earth.
Pontes and his Brazilian wife, who he met in 1985, have a son and a daughter.