MEXICO CITY: A US astronaut of Mexican origin, part of the crew for an Atlantis Space Shuttle voyage in July 2009, presented a project for a Mexican space agency to senators here on Friday.
Astronaut Jose Hernandez promoted the plan, including a launch base in the Yucatan Peninsula on the Atlantic Coast, approved by the lower house in 2007 and due to be voted on by the senate before the end of the month.
If approved, the agency will begin operations in March next year.
“The idea is to copy what has been done in the 43 countries with space bases, modelled on Nasa, but on a much smaller scale,” Fernando de la Pena, one of the researchers behind the project, said on television Friday.
The Mexican space agency will be known as AEXA and include an underwater base.
Hernandez, whose family emigrated to the US to work in agriculture, qualified as an engineer before joining the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. – AFP