Lula pinned an Order of the Merit medal on Pontes, who arrived at a presidential palace event wearing his Air Force jump suit. School children were among the guests.

Pontes' mission helped promote Brazil's space programs and "awaken the interest of children in science," Lula said.

"Who knows if among these children are the astronauts of the next 30 years, who may travel to space from Brazil using our own technology?" he said.

Pontes, 43, returned to Earth on April 9 along with a US astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut, landing on the Kazakh steppe after an 11-day trip to the ISS.

Pontes' flight to and from the ISS was arranged by Moscow because Russia is the only country currently serving the space station with flights, due to the grounding last July of the US space shuttle fleet after technical problems.

Brazilian critics have complained that the mission accomplished nothing of scientific value, and was merely a 10-million dollar trip aimed at bolstering Lula's popularity ahead of the October 1 presidential elections.

Supporters said the mission gave new life to Brazil's space program, which began in 1961 but was dealt a setback in August 2003, when a rocket caught fire at the Alcantara space center, near the equator in the country's northeast, killing 22 and destroying the launchpad.

Brazil is eager to step up development of its commercial satellite launch program and improve the Alcantara site.

Pontes spent seven years training with the US space agency NASA, then traveled to Star City, outside Moscow, in September for further training ahead of his ISS mission.

Related Links
-

Add to Delicious