Russia launched TMA 8 into space

TMA-8 conjugate spacecraft was launched into space today, March 30 (Photo: AP) Today (March 30), a Russian rocket has successfully launched the TMA 8 spacecraft. into space, bringing the first Brazilian astronaut and two Russian-American astronauts into orbit to work at the International Space Station (ISS).

The TMA 8 spacecraft comes from Baikonur Cosmodrome in the desert region of Kazakhstan, with two astronauts Pavel Vinogradov (Russian) and Jeffrey Williams (American) for a six-month mission on ISS. There is also the first Brazilian astronaut - Marcos C. Pontes.

In preparation for this flight, from October last year, Pontes went to train in the Star City (near Moscow). Previously, since 1998, he participated in training courses at the Johnson Space Center in the United States.

Expected in time on ISS, Pontes will perform scientific experiments, including in the field of nanotechnology, and study the surface of Brazil's country from the universe. The astronaut will return on April 9 to join two Russian-American astronauts currently working on the ISS station, Valery Tokarev and Bill McArthur.

This is the 13th international flight to the ISS station. It is expected that the TMA 8 will be assembled with the ISS station on April 1 next. Under the plan, Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams astronauts will conduct more than 65 scientific experiments on ISS.

Col Pontes began training for his first space flight in 1998

International Space Station (ISS)

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