Brazil's first man in space lands back on Earth

Brazil’s first man in space landed back on Earth in the freezing Kazakh steppe today after a nine-day visit to the international space station.

The TMA-7 capsule carrying Marcos Pontes as well as American Bill McArthur and Russian Valery Tokarev, who had spent six months on the space station, touched down on target and on schedule at 03:47 Moscow time (11.47pm last night Irish time).

The spacecraft landed on its bottom about 30 miles northeast of Arkalyk after what Mission Control officials called a flawless flight. Officials at Russia’s Mission Control in Korolyov, outside Moscow, reported that the capsule had been in radio contact for much of the bone-jarring, three-and-a-half-hour journey and that all three crew members were feeling well.

The three travellers were given hot tea and wrapped in blankets before being whisked into a medical tent for their first examinations back on Earth.

Pontes, who had carried a Brazilian flag and national soccer jersey on his trip to the international space station, hoping it would bring his national team victory in this summer’s World Cup, thanked everyone in English. “I am very happy,” he said.

More than 15 helicopters and other aircraft and some 150 searchers were deployed to the town of Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan, the area where the Soyuz capsule landed. The temperature was hovering at -11C at the site.

Ground crews reached the capsule within minutes of the landing and opened the hatch. McArthur, shown on a Mission Control screen as he was still strapped inside the capsule, looked dazed after the 250-mile trip from the space station.

Pontes, seated in a chair outside the capsule, wore a wide grin and gave a thumbs-up as his bulky spacesuit was removed. He was handed a Brazilian flag and a Panama hat that was pulled out of the capsule – apparently one that he had carried to the space station in tribute to Brazilian inventor and aviator Alberto Santos Dumont, to whom Pontes had dedicated his flight.

After a welcome ceremony in a nearby Kazakh town, the three were due to fly later to the Star City space training complex outside Moscow for further medical check-ups and debriefing.

Pontes, a Brazilian Air Force lieutenant colonel, trained in the US and had been scheduled to fly to the station aboard a shuttle – plans that were scrapped after the February 2003 Columbia explosion. Brazil and Russia then opened talks on Pontes’ travelling into orbit aboard a Soyuz craft.

Pontes’ trip was met with criticism by some Brazilians because it reportedly cost €11.8m to the Brazilian Space Agency.

But the 43-year-old Pontes was featured daily on Brazilian TV news broadcasts and across newspaper pages and was a source of pride for Brazil’s 185 million people.

Asked what medal Pontes would receive when he returns to Brazil, the head of the country’s space program, Raimundo Mussi, suggested the national adulation he has inspired would be the best recognition of all.

“Certainly he will receive a decoration but the best decoration will be a big hug from all Brazilians,” Mussi told reporters at Russian Mission Control.

Tokarev told Russian space agency chief Anatoly Perminov in a phone call from the landing site that he was proud to have completed his mission in space close to this coming Wednesday’s 45th anniversary of the flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first human to orbit the Earth.

McArthur and Tokarev were replaced by Russian commander Pavel Vinogradov and US flight engineer Jeff Williams, who arrived at the station together with Pontes on April 1.

The American space program has depended on the Russians for cargo and astronaut delivery since the Columbia disaster grounded the shuttle fleet. The shuttle Discovery visited the station last July but problems with the external fuel tank’s foam insulation have cast doubt on when shuttles might return to flying.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin told reporters at Russian Mission Control that the US will continue to rely on Russian spacecraft for crew and cargo but he declined to say how much the US would pay.

“The terms of our negotiations are private business negotiations,” he said.

He noted that the US is working on developing a new spacecraft called the Crew Exploration Vehicle, which is supposed to replace the shuttle but won’t be ready by the time the shuttle is taken out of use.

“The CEV will not be ready in 2010. In the period between 2010 and the CEV development will be another period when we depend on our Russian partners,” Griffin said.