United Space Exploration Authority

The Space Exploration Authority of Zacapican (Nahuatl: Mixpetzoaliztli Tlayacanatl Citlalli Zacapican, MTC Zacapican) is the national space agency of Zacapican governing the development of expendable and reusable launch systems, artificial satellites and human spaceflight. The MTC was founded in 1953 as an offshoot of the Xiuhcoatl Project ballistic missile development program with the goal of exploiting advances in rocket technology to reach and explore space. The first succesful mission carried out by the MTC was the succesful launch of the unmanned satellite Citlalpol-1 into orbit in 1961. Human missions became possible after the development of the Tlachipahua program in 1967, while the workhorse system still in use in the present day is the Temoani program which first launched in 1979. The MTC's operates its primary launch site at the Atlixeliuhqui Cosmodrome located in northern Zacapican and the secondary launch site at the Yaotlaloc Cosmodrome in the southwest. Zacapine space exploration crewmen, called Centlanauts, are trained and drilled for the rigors of working and living in space at the Citlalpan Centlanaut Training Center.