PERRY CHEN
BRIDGE TO A BAD STAR
The Alcântara Launch Center, Maranhão, Brazil, and the events of August 22, 2003.
PERRY CHEN
BRIDGE TO A BAD STAR
"The fuel started burning out of nowhere."
-Postdoctoral fellow, Brazilian Institute of Space Research (INPE).
"The fuel started burning out of nowhere."
-Postdoctoral fellow, Brazilian Institute of Space Research (INPE).
"They always say that nobody lives out here in the interior: in Mamuna, Brito, Canelatatiua, Baracatatiua... that it's just forest, just abandoned. So they thought they could build their base and build some kind of new world. But it's just the old owners who left. We're still here, we've always been here, and we won't leave."
-Aninha, villager from Mamuna. Relaunching Alcantara, Sean T. Mitchell, University of Chicago 2008.
"They always say that nobody lives out here in the interior: in Mamuna, Brito, Canelatatiua, Baracatatiua...
that it's just forest, just abandoned. So they thought they could build their base and build some kind of new world. But it's just the old owners who left. We're still here, we've always been here, and we won't leave."
that it's just forest, just abandoned. So they thought they could build their base and build some kind of new world. But it's just the old owners who left. We're still here, we've always been here, and we won't leave."
-Aninha, villager from Mamuna. Relaunching Alcantara, Sean T. Mitchell, University of Chicago 2008.
| "In the past slavery was black. Today it's technological. Countries that own the technology enslave the ones who don't. We are only going to be free when we have the knowledge and domination over space technology." -Marcos Pontes, Brazilian astronaut, Correio Brasiliense. September 21st, 2003. |
"In the past slavery was black. Today it's technological. Countries that own the technology enslave the ones who don't. We are only going to be free when we have the knowledge and domination over space technology."
-Marcos Pontes, Brazilian astronaut, Correio Brasiliense. September 21st, 2003.
"In just 8 seconds the entire integration tower was filled with gas fumes and reached a temperature of up to 3000°C, making any attempt to escape literally impossible."
-Ministry of Defense report, 2004.
"In just 8 seconds the entire integration tower was filled with gas fumes and reached a temperature of up to 3000°C, making any attempt to escape literally impossible."
-Ministry of Defense report, 2004.
"It was Friday night, August 22nd. I was doing a story in Maranhão. As soon as I heard of the accident, I packed my suitcase and headed to Alcantâra. We had help from a bushman who showed us the way. It was a difficult walk, I was recovering from a gunshot wound I suffered a short time before, during a report in the Amazon. We were able to capture the first images of the destroyed launch base. This was the most important story of my life as a reporter."
-Sidney Pereira, reporter for Mirante TV, Globo TV affiliate in Maranhão.
"It was Friday night, August 22nd. I was doing a story in Maranhão. As soon as I heard of the accident, I packed my suitcase and headed to Alcantâra. We had help from a bushman who showed us the way. It was a difficult walk, I was recovering from a gunshot wound I suffered a short time before, during a report in the Amazon. We were able to capture the first images of the destroyed launch base. This was the most important story of my life as a reporter."
-Sidney Pereira, reporter for Mirante TV, Globo TV affiliate in Maranhão.
| "The house of Uranus is one of destruction. It breaks everything that is established. Uranus is the ruler of technology and the future. It will simply destroy everything and start over." -Leonardo Shamah, astrologist, reading the date of the accident: August 22, 2003. |
"The house of Uranus is one of destruction. It breaks everything that is established. Uranus is the ruler of technology and the future. It will simply destroy everything and start over."
-Leonardo Shamah, astrologist, reading the date of the accident: August 22, 2003.
| "They were all good boys." -Dr. José Roberto Sodero, lawyer for 20 of the 21 victims' families. |
"They were all good boys."
-Dr. José Roberto Sodero, lawyer for 20 of the 21 victims' families.
"The way the Brazilian Space Program has been struggling with the lack of resources and political support during the past years - even decades - is regrettable. You can say the way that the program is under-resourced is almost criminal."
-Hugo de Oliveira Piva, 2003 Chamber of Deputies report.
"The way the Brazilian Space Program has been struggling with the lack of resources and political support during the past years - even decades - is regrettable. You can say the way that the program is under-resourced is almost criminal."
-Hugo de Oliveira Piva, 2003 Chamber of Deputies report.
"A quick and precise transmission, even via radio frequency from a hidden spot inside the base, would be enough to make it possible for an intelligence service to 'crack' the Brazilian communications system and therefore perform a sabotage of this magnitude."
-Pedro Dourado de Rezende, Professor of Computer Science, University of Brasília.
"A quick and precise transmission, even via radio frequency from a hidden spot inside the base, would be enough to make it possible for an intelligence service to 'crack' the Brazilian communications system and therefore perform a sabotage of this magnitude."
-Pedro Dourado de Rezende, Professor of Computer Science, University of Brasília.
"There was no need for them (the US and France) to sabotage us. We were already doing that ourselves."
-Space system engineer, requested anonymity.
"There was no need for them (the US and France) to sabotage us. We were already doing that ourselves."
-Space system engineer, requested anonymity.
"A lot of things happen and we forget, you know? We forget and don't remember anything."
-Sonia Rocha, 50, taxi driver, São Paulo.
"A lot of things happen and we forget, you know? We forget and don't remember anything."
-Sonia Rocha, 50, taxi driver, São Paulo.
"I do not want the next generations of quilombolas to be mere soldiers serving the launch sites."
-Danilo Serejo Lopes, Ciência Hoje. July 24th, 2012.
"I do not want the next generations of quilombolas to be mere soldiers serving the launch sites."
-Danilo Serejo Lopes, Ciência Hoje. July 24th, 2012.
"We are not against CLA [Alcântara Launch Center], we are not against the Brazilian space program. We understand its strategic importance and we really want our children to have a chance to help develop these projects, but we can not allow them to continue depriving us of the constitutional right to live on our land. In the end, between consent and disagreement, Alcântara is still a typical picture of the generalised contradiction that is Brazil. After all, it is a high-end technology center surrounded by a land where the 21st century has barely arrived."
-Henrique Kugler, Ciência Hoje. July 24th, 2012.
"We are not against CLA [Alcântara Launch Center], we are not against the Brazilian space program. We understand its strategic importance and we really want our children to have a chance to help develop these projects, but we can not allow them to continue depriving us of the constitutional right to live on our land. In the end, between consent and disagreement, Alcântara is still a typical picture of the generalised contradiction that is Brazil. After all, it is a high-end technology center surrounded by a land where the 21st century has barely arrived."
-Henrique Kugler, Ciência Hoje. July 24th, 2012.
"For centuries world leaders have planned their strategies and established roles for each country. Brazil was designated to be the world's farm."
-Sergio Cabral Cavalcanti, founder of IdeaValley.
"For centuries world leaders have planned their strategies and established roles for each country. Brazil was designated to be the world's farm."
-Sergio Cabral Cavalcanti, founder of IdeaValley.
| "The path of the Condor is the path of the heart, of intuition, and of the feminine. The path of the Eagle is the path of the mind, of the industrial, and of the masculine." -Amazonian prophecy. Described in Pachamama Alliance, July 17th, 2012. |
"The path of the Condor is the path of the heart, of intuition, and of the feminine. The path of the Eagle is the path of the mind, of the industrial, and of the masculine."
-Amazonian prophecy. Described in Pachamama Alliance, July 17th, 2012.
"In the early years of the Cold War, the United States was Brazil's principal financial and technological partner. However, by the 80's Brazil sought to diversify its partnerships and become more self-sufficient. This was in part because of attempts by the U.S., through the Missile Technology Control Regime, to hamper Brazil's use of space-related technology for the development of a ballistic missile program, and because of Brazil's history of cooperation with countries not friendly to U.S. interests, such as Iraq."
-The Editors, World Politics Review, October 25th, 2016.
"In the early years of the Cold War, the United States was Brazil's principal financial and technological partner. However, by the 80's Brazil sought to diversify its partnerships and become more self-sufficient. This was in part because of attempts by the U.S., through the Missile Technology Control Regime, to hamper Brazil's use of space-related technology for the development of a ballistic missile program, and because of Brazil's history of cooperation with countries not friendly to U.S. interests, such as Iraq."
-The Editors, World Politics Review, October 25th, 2016.
| "Our mind was not made to stand still, or look simply into the past. We need new dreams and goals." -Marcos Pontes, Brazilian astronaut, Terra. March 11th, 2013. |
"Our mind was not made to stand still, or look simply into the past. We need new dreams and goals."
-Marcos Pontes, Brazilian astronaut, Terra. March 11th, 2013.
| "They are launching rockets not to go to the moon and stars. There's something we don't know in space. From here, where we are, we cannot see. But they can see us from there. They are doing something up there. But we don't know what it is. It's a mystery to us." -Villager in Alcântara. From the documentary: O Céu Sem Eternidade by Eliane Caffé. |
"They are launching rockets not to go to the moon and stars. There's something we don't know in space. From here, where we are, we cannot see. But they can see us from there. They are doing something up there. But we don't know what it is. It's a mystery to us."
-Villager in Alcântara. From the documentary: O Céu Sem Eternidade by Eliane Caffé.
BRIDGE TO A BAD STAR
Perry Chen, 2017