(1963-03-11) 11 March 1963 (age 61) Bauru, São Paulo, Brazil
Political party
PL (2022–present)
Other political affiliations
DEM (2009–12)
PSB (2013–18)
PSL (2018–22)
Occupation
Fighter pilot, astronaut
Signature
Military service
Allegiance
Brazil
Branch/service
Brazilian Air Force
Rank
Lieutenant colonel
Status
Retired[1]
Space career
NASA astronaut
Time in space
9d 21h 17m[1]
Selection
1998 NASA Group
Missions
Soyuz TMA-8, Missão Centenário, Soyuz TMA-7
Mission insignia
Scientific career
Fields
Systems Engineering
Thesis
Polarization effects on infrared target contrast(1998)
Academic advisors
Alfred W. Cooper, David D. Cleary (thesis)
Website
www.marcospontes.com
Marcos Cesar Pontes (born 11 March 1963) is a Brazilian Air Force pilot, engineer, AEB astronaut, politician and author. He became the first South American and the first Lusophone to go into space when he docked onto the International Space Station aboard Soyuz TMA-8 on March 30, 2006. He is the only Brazilian to have completed the NASA astronaut training program, although he switched to training in Russia after NASA's Space Shuttle program encountered problems. After Jair Bolsonaro's election as President of Brazil in 2018, Pontes was officially nominated to be Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, a post which he accepted days later and assumed when Bolsonaro's government began.[2][3] He left the post on 31 March 2022 and in the same year was elected federal senator for his state, São Paulo.
^ ab"Astronaut Biography: Marcos Pontes". www.spacefacts.de. Retrieved 28 August 2019.
^Gonçalves, Carolina (28 October 2018). "Bolsonaro confirma quatro ministros para seu governo" (in Portuguese). Agência Brasil. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
^"Astronauta Marcos Pontes diz que aceitou convite para ser ministro de Ciência e Tecnologia" (in Portuguese). G1. 30 October 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
Marcos Cesar Pontes (born 11 March 1963) is a Brazilian Air Force pilot, engineer, AEB astronaut, politician and author. He became the first South American...
in development. MarcosPontes, a lieutenant colonel in the Brazilian Air Force, is an astronaut of the Brazilian Space Agency. Pontes was the first Brazilian...
Liwei of China, the third nation to launch a person into space (2003) MarcosPontes, of Brazil, the first South American and the first lusophone in space...
chief of the agency, Ricardo Galvão, was fired by science minister MarcosPontes after a period where Galvão had a public argument with Brazilian president...
choosing economist Paulo Guedes as his Economy minister and astronaut MarcosPontes as his Science and Technology minister. Bolsonaro initially said his...
cabinet. On October 31, President-elect Bolsonaro announced astronaut MarcosPontes as the future Minister of Science and Technology; as of that date, he...
2014 Marc Van Montagu Belgium pioneer of plant molecular biology 2011 MarcosPontes Brazil Brazil’s Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation 2005...
figures mentioned as possible running mates for Bolsonaro included: MarcosPontes, a famous astronaut and member of the PSL who would eventually become...
Senator representing the State of São Paulo, with the Brazilian astronaut MarcosPontes as her deputy senator. However, months later she declined from her candidacy...
Global Information
Brazil
Brazilian Air Force
Lieutenant colonel
