André Kuipers to stay half a year in space

André Kuipers has been to space before, but according to De Telegraaf (Dutch) this time the Amsterdam medical doctor is scheduled for a half year stay on the ISS as part of expedition 30/31. He should be launched to the space station in a Soyuz TMA space craft (seats three) in December 2010.

Kuipers went to space before as an ESA astronaut on a 10-day trip in 2004 on top of a Soyuz rocket. He was the second Dutch astronaut, following in the footsteps of Wubbo Ockels. I remember his launch rekindled my interest in space exploration back then, and I am only a jaded 41- year-old. Imagine how Dutch kids will respond to seeing a countryman in space.

(Photo: NASA)

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009 at 10:19 am and is filed under Science. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: André Kuipers, astronauts, ESA, ISS, Soyuz, space, Wubbo Ockels