SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) --
Brazil on Thursday successfully launched a rocket on a 20-minute flight aimed
at obtaining a better understanding on how gravity affects human enzymes and
DNA.
The
41-foot-long (12.4-meter) VSB-30 rocket, was launched from the seaside Alcantara
site in
northeastern Brazil, the Brazilian Space Agency said in a statement posted on
its Web site.
The two-stage rocket soared
approximately 175 miles (281 kilometers) before beginning its descent.
During almost seven minutes
the rocket's payload was in a state of microgravity, an environment of
near-weightlessness that allows researchers to study the fundamental states of
matter -- solids, liquids and gases -- and the forces that affect them.
"We needed a state of
microgravity in order to better understand how gravity affects the speed of
chemical reactions in enzymes and the quality of DNA repair following exposure
to radiation and solar rays,'' Flavio de Azevedo Correa, the project's
experiment coordinator, said by telephone.
"Eventually, the results
could help us develop new processes and pharmaceutical products to treat
cancer,'' he added.
Thursday's launch was the
second from Alcantara since Aug. 2003, when 21 space agency workers were killed
as a satellite-launching
rocket exploded while being prepared for launch.
Investigators determined
that an electrical flaw triggered one of the rocket's four solid-fuel boosters
during final preparations at the launch pad.
The Alcantara base in the
state of Maranhao is considered an excellent launch site because it is located
just 2.3 degrees south of the equator, the line at which the Earth moves the
fastest, helping propel rockets into space and using less fuel.
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