This Sunday morning, the Brazilian-Argentinean scientific space rocket successfully launched. There were four past delays because of bad weather and high winds. The rocket was carrying scientific experiments and it is the first joint space mission of the two countries.

This is also the first commercial launch of a Brazilian rocket. The launch took place in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, from the Boca do Inferno Launch Centre, and it was conducted this Sunday at 6.15 a.m. (0915 GMT). The flight lasted 9 minutes and 25 seconds.

During its flight, the 8-meter-long and 1,500 kg Brazilian made rocket reached the altitude of 121 km. At this height, the gravity is almost zero. In this environment, there were conducted specific scientific experiments designed by Argentine institutions and it was also tested a GPS tracking system developed by a Brazilian university. The flight ended as rocket descended and fell into the sea 120 km offshore.

The rocket was recovered by Brazilian air force with two Black Hawk helicopters and submarine personnel. The module containing the experimental equipment on behalf of the Argentinean scientific mission team was taken to Buenos Aires in order to analyze the results of the tests.

The Brazilian Space Agency plans to carry out more commercial launches for scientific purposes from the Alcantara launch centre in northeastern Maranhao state, a spokesperson from the Agency said.