Sofia Rodrigues

Sofia Lei da Rodrigues Si (*5 February 1989 in Macau, Spanish State, Fascist Empire of Rome) is an Macanese-Roman politician as well as former aerospace engineer and astronaut who is currently serving as Supreme Senator and General Secretary of Rome since 2023. She formerly served as Deputy General Secretary from 2020 and People’s Secretary of Spacefaring from 2019 to 2023 respectively.
Sofia Rodrigues, the preferred short version of her name, was born to Macanese parents in the then Roman colony of Macau. Staunch republicans, her family moved to Catalonia to fight for the Republican Movement following the outbreak of the Roman Wars in 1990 and later relocated to Porto, now FRR Lusitania. After attending basic training in the Roman Space Navy, Rodrigues joined the Roman Spacefaring Academy in Cayenne, FRR Guiana, in 2008 and graduated with excellence as aerospace engineer in 2012.
 The young astronaut made herself a name when partaking in several manned spaceflights and she was assigned to the Roman Martian colony of Remus in 2013. There she worked with distinction for the secret Minos Project, eventually being made commander of Minos-11, the first manned spacecraft scheduled to land on Europa, a moon of Jupiter. On 21 July 2018 at 21:35 UTC, Minos-11 landed on the surface of Europa and Sofia Rodrigues became the first human to walk on Europa, making her a global icon overnight. Following the mission, she was personally granted the rank of captain and the title of Hero of the Union by Supreme Senator Lorenzo Calvonova.
The meeting had a lasting impact on the young officer, prompting her to retire from the Space Navy and become a politician for the Social Democratic Party, the prominent left wing section of the Lega in Lusitania. In late 2018, she was elected as councillor of the Lusitanian Council following the recall of her predecessor, representing her home city of Porto. Rodrigues became a Roman senator for Porto following the 2019 Roman Senate election and she was immediately elected as People’s Secretary of Spacefaring by the Senate. Rodrigues eventually succeeded Lorenzo Calvonova as chair of the Lega following the 2020 constructive vote of no confidence, becoming deputy supreme senator in the process. She is the first woman, the youngest person and the first Roman Asian to be elected to a position of power or chair of the Lega.
A social conservative, negotiator and centralist unionist, yet proponent of the socialist market economy and pro-European thus part of the Lega's left wing, Rodrigues quickly rose through the ranks of the Lega helped by her national and international renown. She is also known for her endorsement and promotion of space travel and colonization of the solar system. Her secretariat is well known for allocating huge government funds to the Space Navy, the elysiums and the Minos Project that tries to establish a colony on Europa.
Category:Astronauts of Rome
Category:Living people
Category:Politicians of Rome
Category:Supreme Senators of Rome
Category:Important People