The Brazilian Space Agency is the civilian authority in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

 responsible for the country's burgeoning space program

Space exploration

Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....

. It operates a spaceport

Spaceport

A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching spacecraft, by analogy with seaport for ships or airport for aircraft. The word spaceport, and even more so cosmodrome, has traditionally been used for sites capable of launching spacecraft into orbit around Earth or on interplanetary trajectories...

 at Alcântara and a rocket launch site at Barreira do Inferno. The agency has given Brazil a leading role in space in Latin America and has made Brazil a valuable and dependable partner for cooperation in the International Space Station

International Space Station

The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...

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The Brazilian Space Agency is the heir to Brazil's space program

Brazilian space program

The Brazilian space program refers to the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by Brazil from 1961 until the creation of the Brazilian Space Agency in 1994. It had significant capabilities in launch vehicles, launch sites, and satellite manufacturing. It was based at the National...

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