"I hope in the next few years the turnover will reach US$ 10 billion a year (from 5 billion in 2007)," Medvedev said at a luncheon with Russian and Brazilian businessmen in Rio.

"The structure of the turnover is far from ideal," he said. "The main task is to make it include hi-tech sectors, major companies, and the energy sector. We have such potential."

Medvedev is scheduled to visit Venezuela, a buyer of Russian arms, and Cuba later this week as Russia seeks to reassert itself in the region. The Russian leader arrived in Brazil from the Asian Pacific Economic cooperation, APEC summit in Lima, Peru.

Also on Tuesday a fleet of Russian warships arrived in Venezuela for joint naval exercises ahead of Medvedev's visit, which is seen as another step in President Hugo Chavez's efforts to strengthen an alliance with Moscow.

Medvedev and Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva are scheduled to sign accords to increase cooperation in the aerospace, nuclear and defense industries during the visit. Russia hopes to sell helicopters, armored vehicles and other equipment to Brazil which has announced a plan to re-equip its armed forces.

Medvedev told the luncheon that Brazil and Russia, two of the world's biggest emerging markets, already had a "strategic partnership" and were turning into leaders of global growth despite the financial crisis.

"There are other sectors where we can exchange opinions, create joint ventures. That is space, aviation, the military-industrial complex and the energy sector," he said.

Medvedev also said that Russia's economic growth will reach around 7% in 2008. "Economic growth will remain at a level of 7%, although everybody will face certain difficulties," he said.

The Russian leader also announced the opening next year of a Russian energy giant Gazprom office in Brazil to "boost bilateral oil and gas cooperation."

Mercopress

The VS-30 rocket, which carried experiments from both countries, blasted off from the Barreira do Inferno launch center in Brazil's northern Rio Grande do Norte state Sunday, 06:15 in the morning.

The country's Space Agency said the rocket reached a height of 121 kilometers (75 miles). The flight, which lasted nine minutes and 25 seconds, was considered "perfect". The rocket is eight meters (26 feet) long and weighs 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lbs).

At that height and with virtually no gravity several scientific experiments were accomplished which had been planned by Argentine institutions as well as a GPS tracking system from a Brazilian university.

The rocket plunged into the sea 120 kilometers offshore and was recovered by two Brazilian Air Force Black Hawks and a team of Navy divers.

According to the Argentine coordinator of the project Roberto Oscar Yasielski the module will be flown to Buenos Aires to check the experiments and to assess in detail the impact on the hardware.

The operation was the result of a 1998 accord between Brazil and Argentina when both countries decided to give up their missile programs.

The Brazilian Space Agency said that several similar scientific missions are planned, to be launched both from Barreira do Inferno and the country's main launching pad in Alcântara, state of Maranhão in the northeast of the country.

Mercopress

According to the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB), the rocket carrying scientific experiments was launched at 6:15 am from the launching center at Barreira do Inferno (Hell Barrier) in Parnamirim in the northern state of Rio Grande do Norte.

It took the Brazilian-made VS-30 rocket seven minutes to reach a height of 121 km (75 miles). It was enough time to carry two Argentinean experiments in microgravity and to test a GPS (Global Positioning System)  built by scientists at the Rio Grande do Norte Federal University (UFRN).

According to official data, the rocket's flight was considered perfect. Tracing and data transmission also worked flawlessly, according to the same sources. The rocket's payload was recouped by the  Brazilian Air Force which sent two Black Hawk helicopters and a submarine team to get the payload when it splashed down 120 km off the Brazilian coast.

While the Argentinean modules will be examined in  Buenos Aires, the Brazilian experiment will be analyzed by the UFRN. The GPS results should be used in future software for rockets and satellites.

The so-called Angicos Operation is the result of an agreement between Brazil and Argentina and involves more than 100 scientists from both countries.

For colonel Luiz Fernando de Azevedo from the Brazilian Air Force and the project coordinator on Brazil's side, Argentina got the most benefits in this joint mission, but he didn't deny Brazil's gains: "We not only conducted a Brazilian experiment and made our own tests, but we are also going to launch another rocket. This is essential to keep our technology and maintain the teams trained."

The Angicos project cost the Brazilian government 1.5 million Brazilian reais (US$ 841,000) not including expenses with the scientists salaries. Argentina invested about US$ 500,000 in the venture.

A VSB-30 sounding rocket, launched in July by Brazil was a failure. At that time the payload prepared by German scientists got lost in the ocean and was never found.

The Indian delegation had, among its members, the director of the Earth Observations System, Venkatakrishnan Jayaraman, and the director of the Polar Satellite Launching Vehicle (PSLV), Neelakanta Narayanamoorthy.

The two countries have talked about bilateral cooperation that have been in progress since 2004, when Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva made an official visit to India. At the occasion, an agreement was signed for the peaceful use of space, approved in April this year by the Commission of Foreign Relations and national Defense at Brazil's Lower House.

Indians currently have the fastest growing space program in the world. With a budget of US$ 2.4 billion, India has built 29 satellites, developed two launchers and established infrastructure for development, construction and testing of telecommunications, remote sensing and meteorology satellites.

The visit of the Indian group might result in cooperation projects before the end of year, said the president of the AEB, Sérgio Gaudenzi. "The visit was productive, since it's from here that new ideas for future  projects will come from. We are going to sit down and define four or five concrete points and develop them in the period of two months," said Gaudenzi.

According to Gaudenzi, 20 years ago, Brazil, India and China were at about the same level of development in space matters. This, however, has changed in the last 10 years and Brazil was left behind due to lack of investment in the sector. Brazil has already space agreements with China, Russia and Ukraine.

Among areas in which India and Brazil can cooperate are satellite launching and tracing, the use of satellites in telemedicine and teleeducation.

The Indian delegation also visited the Itamaraty (Brazil's Foreign Ministry) and the Science and Technology ministry in Brasí­lia. In São Paulo they were received at the Inpe (National Institute of Space Studies) and the Aerospace Technology General Command.

Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is scheduled to visit New Delhi, in India, at the beginning of June.

Pontes pointed out that he has been in training programs with the Russians, the Americans and even the Japanese, and has good relations with the European space program.

Pontes said that tomorrow is a special day. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. He said he was flattered when Russians compared him to Gagarin who was his hero.

According to Russian doctors, Pontes is in excellent health. His health is so good that the joke at Star City is whether or not he really went into space for eight days.

Students

Program activities created by the Brazilian Space Agency (Agência Espacial Brasileira) (AEB) reached 40,000 students in private and public schools in the Distrito Federal (Brasilia) in 2005.

The objective of the program is to awaken student interest and creativity in the areas of science and technology.

According to Ivette Rodrigues, who manages the AEB school program in Brasí­lia, the program rests on two pillars: training teachers to work with scientific and technological content related to outer space (which should be multidisciplinary), and activities such as talks, workshops and expositions in the school.

Another program activity is the Astronomy and Astronautical Olympics, in partnership with the Brazilian Astronomical Society. Last year this program visited 6,500 schools with information about the Brazilian space program and the Pontes flight to the International Space Station.

This year the Brazilian Ministry of Education will distribute didactic material about the program.

"The Pontes trip into space was a big stepping stone. Based on that experience we will work to train researchers and technicians in order to move ahead not only in space, but in other areas of knowledge," declared Rodrigues.

Agência Brasil

Lula praised Pontes for his dedication, performance and likeability. "You are now definitely a member of the gallery of Great Brazilians," said Lula.

"The extraordinary success of your mission and the experiments at the space station you performed make us all proud and satisfied," concluded the president’s message.

After landing safely in Kazakshtan at 3:47 am (Russian time on Sunday morning, April 9) Brazil’s first astronaut Marcos Pontes, is now at the Yuri Gagarin Astronaut Training Center, also called Star City, just outside Moscow where he will remain until April 19.

Pontes landed with two other astronauts, the Russian Valery Tokarev, and the American William McArthur, who left the International Space Station after spending six months there.

Pontes was in space for eight days. Probably because of the difference in the amount of time they spent in microgravity, doctors said Pontes was in better physical condition upon arrival than the other two astronauts.

The Brazilian astronaut brought with him the experiments he took into space which will be returned to Brazil for evaluation at the Brazilian Space Agency.

ABr

According to Pontes, the space mission met "100% of the expectations" from the scientific perspective, in terms of publicizing the space program, and in the historical aspect.

"Carrying our flag represents a lot for the future and for history, as the centennial of Santos Dumont’s flight," he recalled.

The mission was denominated the Centennial Mission to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first flight made by the Brazilian inventor, Santos Dumont, in his 14 Bis, in Paris.

In Pontes’ opinion, Brazil took an important step to solidify its position among the countries with space programs. "When we represent Brazil and carry this flag, we sense the impact this has on millions of Brazilians and the international community."

Replying to criticisms over the cost of the mission (US$ 10 million), he emphasized the motivation it gave to young people and said that the country "has much to gain" from a mission like this one.

A cooperation agreement signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva last October with Russia reduced the price of the Brazilian astronaut’s trip to under half of what the Russians normally charge for this type of flight, something on the order of US$ 10 million.

Agência Brasil

According to the Assistant Manager for scientific experiments, Marta Humman, Pontes has so far covered the chronogram without any problems.

Since Saturday, when he arrived at the station, Pontes has been working with experiments elaborated by Brazilian scientists. This Sunday, he started developing the heat minitubes experiment (MHP), of the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).

The objective is to transfer concentrated heat from a warm area to a cooler one, acting as a transfer device in microgravity environments, in a way as to expand its use for the control of electronic components in space. The experiment will last four days.

One other experiment investigates if, in space, beans germinate the same way as in Earth. Another one evaluates how plants produce chlorophyll when they are weightless, on orbit.

Pontes will stay in space for eight days.

ABr

With Expedition 13 and Soyuz Commander Pavel Vinogradov at the controls, the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft automatically linked up to the Earth-facing port on the station’s Zarya module at 11:19 p.m. EST Friday. The spacecraft were above China near the Russian, Kazakh and Mongolian borders at the time.

Aboard the Soyuz with Vinogradov were NASA Flight Engineer and Science Officer Jeff Williams and Brazilian Space Agency astronaut Marcos Pontes. Pontes will spend eight days on the complex under a commercial agreement with the Russian Federal Space Agency.

After systems checks, hatches between the Soyuz and the station were opened at 12:59 a.m. EST Saturday. Expedition 12 Commander Bill McArthur and Flight Engineer Valery Tokarev, nearing the end of their six-month mission on the station, greeted their colleagues with handshakes and hugs and offered the traditional bread and salt.

Russian, American and Brazilian dignitaries viewed the docking from the Russian Mission Control Center in Korolev, outside Moscow, and congratulated the crews after hatch opening.

The new crew will now transfer cargo from the Soyuz to the station, deactivate the new Soyuz’ systems and stow their launch and entry suits.

Pontes will move his custom-made seatliner into the older Soyuz TMA-7 spacecraft that will bring him home, and he will begin several experiments.

The two station crews will continue handover activities throughout the week, including robotics training with the station arm and detailed briefings on scientific experiments.

Vinogradov and Williams will remain on board the station until September.

All five astronauts and cosmonauts will participate in a news conference at 10:55 a.m. EDT Monday. NASA Television will broadcast this event live.

Monday night, McArthur and Williams will "camp out" in the Quest airlock. They will sleep in the airlock, isolated from Tokarev, Vinogradov and Pontes, to test a new procedure that may reduce the preparation time for spacewalks.

The new procedure will have spacewalkers stay in the airlock overnight at a lower air pressure to help purge nitrogen from their bodies to prevent decompression sickness. McArthur and Williams will begin their airlock stay at about 6:20 p.m. EDT Monday and finish at 3:30 a.m. EDT Tuesday.

McArthur, Tokarev and Pontes will leave the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-7 and land April 8.

Remembering Dumont
 
Brazilian Marcos Pontes has become his country’s first astronaut, blasting off from Earth Thursday morning, March 30, for the International Space Station.

Pontes, along with Russian Pavel Vinogradov and American Jeffrey Williams, took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He will spend nine days aboard the space station, returning April 9 with the current Russian – U.S. crew members, who have been in orbit for six months.

The Brazilian Air Force officer will conduct several scientific experiments and make observations of his country’s surface.

Pontes is taking his national flag along, as well as items to commemorate the first airplane flight by Alberto Santos Dumont, a Brazilian 100 years ago. Dumont is called Aviation’s Father in Brazil.

The Brazilian astronaut, has also brought a Brazilian football shirt into space. According to Pontes, he was doing this in a bid to bring Brazil’s soccer national team good luck in the World Cup.

Nasa – www.nasa.gov

The trip takes place 45 years after the world’s first astronaut, the Russian Yuri Gagarin, went into space, and 100 years after the first public flight of a heavier-than-air powered craft, the 14-Bis, which was built and piloted by the Brazilian aviation pioneer, Alberto Santos Dumont.

Pontes has a Brazilian flag sewn on the left sleeve of his flight suit. He is also carrying commemorative medals celebrating his own flight and that of Santos Dumont.

According to Pontes, his heartbeat speeded up when he saw the rocket on the launch pad. "It is a lot of responsibility," he said. "It weighs on you."

But. later when he was strapped into his seat in the Soyuz, he said: "Contrary to what a lot of people probably imagine, I feel very calm now."

Liftoff

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 Inácio Lula da Silva by video conference 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.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was at the residence of the ambassador of China, Jiang Yuand, where he watched the launch of the Soyuz TMA-8 on television.

Agência Brasil