Brazil's President In Moscow Signs Deal For Joint Space Mission

Brazil's President In Moscow Signs Deal For Joint Space Mission


by Delphine Thouvenot

Moscow (AFP) Oct 18, 2005

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on the first full day of a
politically groundbreaking first visit to Moscow Tuesday signed a 20 million
dollar deal to send one of his compatriots into space on a joint
Russo-Brazilian mission.

Greeted at the Kremlin by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lula applauded
as the two countries' space agencies signed the contract which should see
Brazilian cosmonaut Marcos Pontes take one of the three places on the
Russian Soyuz spacecraft when it blasts off next year bound for the
International Space Station (ISS).

"We plan to move to the creation of a 'technological alliance' with Brazil,
in particular in the field of space," Putin said at the signing ceremony,
held in the ornate setting of the Kremlin's Malachite Hall.

"The signing of this contract to send in 2006 a Brazilian cosmonaut to the
ISS is an important step in this direction," Putin said, going on to
congratulate Pontes.

Brazil's first man in space has just started his training at Star City, the
training centre for Russian cosmonauts near Moscow, and is due to spend 10
days on the ISS.
"We hope his flight will take place sometime after March," Anatoly Perminov,
head of the Russian space agency, told reporters.

M. Perminov said Pontes's journey into space would cost Brazil 20 million
dollars " as usual", the sum paid by US space tourist Greg Olsen for his
trip to the ISS.
The deal comes as Russia is talking to the US space agency NASA about it
sharing in the cost of taking astronauts and cosmonauts to the ISS.
Problems with the US space shuttles mean that only the Russians are in a
position to provide transport to the ISS.
Russia and Brazil also signed a "cooperation protocol for the modernisation
of VLS-1 launchers" owned by Brazil, which has a space centre at Alcantara
in the northeast of the country .

"There have never been so many ties between us," said Lula, citing not only
space cooperation but also cooperation in the energy field, in particular
gas and "peaceful nuclear power", without giving any details of precise
contracts in those areas.
Putin said that Brazil was a major economic partner of Russia's, with trade
exceeding two billion dollars since the beginning of 2005.

"I shall go home in the knowledge that Brazil and Russia are making great
strides to build a new world," said Lula, who signed a joint declaration
with Putin speaking of the "importance" the two leaders accorded to
"democracy" and "respect for human rights".

"Russia and Brazil are backers of democratic values and say they are in
favour of the formation of a multipolar and just world space," Putin said,
hinting to his guest at closer ties -- already suggested to China -- to
balance US power.
Lula's visit was a fleeting one: the Brazilian president, up for re-election
next year and recently emerged from a political crisis at home arising from
illegal party financing, arrived Monday evening and was due to leave Tuesday
evening.

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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info