Flávio Dieguez and Alessandra Bastos
Reporters - Agência Brasil

Brasília – Exactly at 8:29 am in Kazakhstan yesterday (11:29 pm in Brasília), at the Baikonur rocket launch center, Brazilian Air Force Lt. Col. Marcos Pontes lifted off in the Soyuz TMA-8 vehicle along with two other astronauts on his way to the International Space Station. Pontes, the Russian astronaut, Pavel Vinogradov, and the American, Jeffrey Williams, will remain strapped in their seats in the tiny Soyuz capsule until 1:13 am on Saturday (Brasilia time) when they are scheduled to dock at the ISS (that means they cannot move around for two days, four hours and 13 minutes).

Pontes will be at the ISS for eight days. The other two astronauts will stay in space for six months.

During his stay at the ISS, Pontes will communicate with earth three times. He is to speak with president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Wednesday April 5. He will also talk to Brazilian journalists. And near the end of his stay he will be in touch with mission technicians.

Pontes will perform eight experiments aboard the ISS where gravity is near zero.

The Brazilian Space Agency paid US$10 million for the Pontes trip.

Translation: Allen Bennett