SPACE.com -- Homeland Has Much to Gain From Spaceflight, Brazilian Astronaut Says

Brazilian Marcos Pontes sits in a chair holding national flag shortly after landing near the town of Arkalyk, northern Kazakhstan, early Sunday, April 9, 2006 (Local Time). Credit: AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev. Click to enlarge.

Expedition 13 commander Pavel Vinogradov waves to the camera after entering the International Space Station on April 1, 2006 EST. Clockwise from Vinogradov are: Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes, Expedition 13 flight engineer Jeffrey Williams and Expedition 12 commander Bill McArthur. Expedition 12 flight engineer Valery Tokarev is not pictured. Credit: NASA TV/collectSPACE.com. Click to enlarge.

Brazil's first astronaut Marcos Pontes launches into space with his Expedition 13 crewmates on March 29, 2006. Credit: collectSPACE.com. Click to enlarge.

Brazilian astronaut Marcos Pontes takes part in zero-gravity training aboard a plane flying near Moscow, Monday, Feb. 13, 2006. Pontes who will blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on March 30 with Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov and U.S. astronaut Jeffrey Williams, will spend eight days on the international space station before returning to Earth with the outgoing two-man crew. Credit: AP. Click to enlarge.

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	Homeland Has Much to Gain From Spaceflight, Brazilian Astronaut Says By Tales Azzoni Associated Press Writer posted: 8 April 2006 4:09 p.m. ET

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Brazil's first astronaut said from aboard the International Space Station that Brazilians in the future will benefit from his historic trip to space.

Marcos C. Pontes, who blasted into space aboard a Russian Soyuz rocket on March 29, made the comments in an interview with Brazilian media, his last before returning to Earth on Saturday.

"Can you imagine how many young Brazilians will become motivated to learn about science and technology,'' he said. "Brazil has a lot to gain, not only now, in the future.''

Pontes' trip was met with criticism by some Brazilians because it reportedly cost US$10 million (euro8.2 million) to the Brazilian Space Agency.

"Everything has a cost,'' he said. "But we were successful in divulging the Brazilian space program and attracting people's attention to the subject.''

Pontes will fly back to Kazakhstan on Saturday along with U.S. astronaut Bill McArthur and Russian flight engineer Valery Tokarev, who were at the space station more than six months. They are being replaced by Russian Pavel Vinogradov and American Jeffrey Williams.

The 43-year-old Brazilian has been featured daily on Brazilian TV news broadcasts and in newspaper pages. The Brazilian flag he waved in the capsule was seen as a symbol of pride to most Brazilians.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva talked to Pontes last Wednesday, saying "in very few moments in the history of Brazil we were so proud of a Brazilian like now.''

Born into a poor family in the southeastern city of Bauru, about 400 kilometers (250 miles) west of Sao Paulo, Pontes helped pay for his studies by working as an electrician's assistant at age 14.

A cadet at the Brazilian Ai r Force Academy in Pirassununga, Pontes became a fighter pilot in 1984. He did graduate studies in Brazil and at the Johnson Space Center and the Naval Postgraduate School in Pasadena, California.

In 1997, Brazil joined the 15 nations involved in the International Space Station Project. A year later, Pontes was picked for the flight by NASA and the Brazilian Space Agency.