São José dos Campos (SP), 8/28/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has announced that the government will send bills to congress establishing comnpensation for the families, and scholarships for the children, of the 21 technicians and engineers who died last Friday when the Brazilian-made rocket, the VLS-1, exploded at the Alcântara Launch Center in Maranhão. Lula made the announcement at religious services for the deceased at the Aerospace Technological Center (CTA) in São Paulo, where the victims worked.

The service took place in a climate of great emotion, with Lula embracing relatives of the victims and crying copiously on several occasions.

The president has ordered minister of Defense, José Viegas, to meet with family members for a discussion of exactly how the government can assist them. During the service, Lula declared that the best possible homage to the dead would be to continue the Brazilian space program. (AB)