Seeking to restart its space program after a catastrophic explosion of its Veiculo Lancador de Satelites (VLS) rocket killed 21 space officials two years ago, Brazil has entered into space cooperation agreements with Russia and the Ukraine, re-organized its space bureaucracy, made a commitment to expand it's Alcantara launch complex into a major regional aerospace center, and reached a tentative agreement with the Russians to fly Brazil's first astronaut. Soon after the third unsuccessful attempt to launch its star-crossed rocket ended in disaster in August 2003, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva publicly vowed to the nation that his administration would rebuild the destroyed launch pad and fly a new VLS rocket. Brazil would forge ahead with its national rocket program, Lula said, in memory of the space officials who perished in the fireball that enveloped the solid-fuel vehicle while it sat on its pad awaiting launch. In fact, President Lula promised that the new VLS would be ready for launch no later than 2006. At the same time, the Brazilians brought in a team of Russian space experts to help determine the causes of the explosion and provide assistance with the new rocket.
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