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Marcos Pontes

Brazilian - (AEB)

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Date of Birth: March 11, 1963
Age: 62


Marcos Cesar Pontes (born March 11, 1963) is a Brazilian Air Force pilot, engineer, AEB astronaut and author. He became the first South American and the first Lusophone to go into space when he launched into the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-8 on March 30, 2006. He is the only Brazilian to have completed the NASA astronaut training program, although he switched to training in Russia after NASA's Space Shuttle program encountered problems.

Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-7

Progress Rocket Space Center | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Oct. 1, 2005, 3:54 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TMA-7 begins Expedition 12 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Valery Tokarev alongside Flight Engineers, William McArthur (NASA) & spaceflight participant Gregory Olsen (Space Adventures) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. It landed on April 8, 2006, 23:48:00 UTC

Low Earth Orbit
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Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-8

Progress Rocket Space Center | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
March 30, 2006, 2:30 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TMA-8 begins Expedition 13 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov alongside Flight Engineers, Jeffrey Williams (NASA) & spaceflight participant Marcos Pontes (Space Adventures) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. It landed on September 29, 2006, 01:13 UTC

Low Earth Orbit
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Administrator: Marco Antonio Chamon

The Brazilian Space Agency is a space agency in South America. They work in partnership with the US and Russia aboard the ISS. It was previously operated by the military until 1994. They now operate largely in tandem with other nations. They run a spaceport and rocket launch site both in Brazil. They built the VLM small satellite launch system in tandem with Germany. The VLS-1 was intended to be a primary launch vehicle for the BSA, but it failed 3 times and was canceled. They have restarted work on the system in tandem with the Russian Space Agency.


Long March 2D
Success
1 day, 2 hours ago
4 x SatNet test satellites
Launch Area 4 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellites". Probable 4 test satellites for the Chinese state-owned LEO communic…


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 4 hours ago
Fram2
Launch Complex 39A - Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA

Fram2 is the world’s first astronaut mission to polar orbit. Named after the Norwegian polar research ship Fram, the Crew Dragon spacecraft will laun…


Falcon 9
Success
1 day, 10 hours ago
Starlink Group 6-80
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 28 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Spectrum
Failure
2 days, 19 hours ago
Maiden Flight
Orbital Launch Pad - Andøya Spaceport

First flight of the Isar Spectrum launch vehicle.


Long March 7A
Success
3 days, 13 hours ago
TJSW-16
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.