Marcos Cesar Pontes was born in the city of Bauru in São Paulo on March 11, 1963. He has an aeronautical engineering degree graduated from the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA), a master in Systems Engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School in California (United States), is a Lieutenant Colonel Aviator R1 of the Brazilian Air Force and a fighter aircraft test pilot with over 2,000 flight hours on 25 aircraft types, including F-15 Eagle, F-16 Falcon, F-18 Hornet and Mig-29 Fulcrum. A member of NASA's 1998 astronaut class, Marcos Pontes is the only Brazilian to go to space. He is also the first professional astronaut to officially represent a Southern Hemisphere country in space. Pontes carried out the Centennial Mission in 2006, the result of a partnership between the Brazilian Space Agency and the Russian Space Agency, working 10 days at the International Space Station as a mission specialist responsible for maintaining the spacecraft systems and performing scientific research directed by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He has extensive experience as a project manager and program manager working on relevant international aerospace projects at companies such as NASA, JAXA, ESA, Boeing. Pontes has 30 years of experience in risk management and operational safety. With a significant military and academic background, he holds a bachelor's degree in public administration and acts as ambassador of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), acting mainly in sustainable development programs.