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AROUND THE WORLD 2: Brazil Will Launch Rocket

Last Tuesday, Eduardo Campos, the minister of science and technology for the large South American country of Brazil, announced that his country will launch its first space rocket by the year 2006. He made the announcement while swearing in the new director of the Brazilian Space Agency, Sergio Guadenzi.

The country has been developing space technology for a number of years and hoped to launch a rocket even earlier than is currently planned. However, in the year 2003, a tragic accident at the Alcantara launch center devastated the program and delayed further progress on rocket launches.

Since that accident, which killed 21 space program employees, the Brazilian government has continued to put enormous amounts of time and money into the space program. There was a full investigation of the accident and a government report blamed maintenance problems, which have since been corrected. Furthermore, the current president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, promised to budget additional funding for the program to ensure that a 2006 launch date will be possible.

Brazil's new space program director claimed that launching a rocket into space is in the national interest of Brazil. The rockets will be used primarily for launching satellites into space. These satellites will then be used for research projects on topics such as weather patterns, agriculture, and environmental health in Brazil. With the information gathered by these satellites, Brazil hopes to be able to improve the economy and the lives of its people.

--Written by Betsy Mesard

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