Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Astronaut Awakens Interest in Science

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Apr 15 2006 (IPS) - Brazil's first astronaut, Marcos Pontes, returned to Earth after one week at the International Space Station as a new national hero. And his space journey awakened a new vocation in students at the Sao José dos Campos school, who particpated in two of the eight experiments Pontes conducted during the mission. Anna Elisa Barcelos, 13, had thought she would study journalism. Now she also feels attracted to astronomy. Diego Ferreira, 14, has no doubts that he wants to be an astronaut like Pontes.

The enthusiasm of the children “surpassed our expectations,” Elisa Saeta, coordinator of the school's connection to the space experiments, told Tierramérica.

Four schools planted bean seeds, proving that on Earth the roots grow downwards, while in space they grow in all directions.

They also separated the different chlorophyll pigments, the substance that green plants use to turn light into chemical energy, under conditions of near-zero gravity.