André Kuipers

• ISS Delta   Soyuz TMA- TMA-4/Sojus 3 (2004)

• ISS Expedition 30
• ISS Expedition 31

André Kuipers ( born October 5, 1958 in Amsterdam, North Holland province, the Netherlands) is the second Dutch astronaut after Wubbo Ockels.

Training

Kuipers visited the Van der Waals Lyceum in Amsterdam, 1977, he received his secondary school leaving certificate ( Atheneum B ), and then studied medicine. At the University of Amsterdam ten years later he received his doctorate. He then served as an officer in the medical staff of the Dutch Air Force. He examined accidents by pilots, which were caused by disorientation. Already during his studies he had dealt with the human sense of balance.

Research

In the years 1989 and 1990, Kuipers worked in Soesterberg ( province of Utrecht ). At the Medical Center of the Air Force, he conducted research on the vestibular system, to contact lenses for pilots but also the space sickness. In addition, he was a fighter pilot lessons and informed them about the behavior of the human body in relation to the flies.

Kuipers worked from 1991 at the European Space Research and Technology Centre, the Dutch site of the European Space Agency ( ESA). In Noordwijk ( Province of South Holland ) he developed physiological basic research experiments that were carried out parabolic flights. Some projects in which he played a pivotal role were even performed on space flights: including the Torque Velocity Dynamometer (STS -78), the Advanced Respiratory Monitoring System ( STS -107 ) and the Muscle Atrophy Research and Exercise System ( International Space Station (ISS ) ).

Spaceman activity

To reinforce the ESA astronaut corps Kuipers was selected in the summer of 1998. During a space exhibition at ESTEC he was introduced to the public in October. Nine months later, he traveled to the Federal Republic and began the European Astronaut Centre ( EAC), the basic training. In parallel, he continued his research in the Microgravity Payloads Division at ESTEC in Noordwijk.

In December 2002, Kuipers was set to participate in a mission to the ISS. He trained alternately at the EAC and the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Moscow for as DELTA (Dutch Expedition for Life science, Technology and Atmospheric research) designated mission. In addition, Kuipers was replacement for Pedro Duque, who flew to the ISS in October 2003. He worked during this mission as CapCom in Moscow, as a year earlier with Frank De Winne.

Accompanied by the Russian commander Padalka and U.S. flight engineer Fincke flew Kuipers in April 2004, aboard Soyuz TMA -4 to the space station. More than a dozen DELTA experiments, most of which were developed by Dutch scientists, Kuipers supervised during the nine days on the ISS.

From May 2007 trained Kuipers as a substitute of Frank De Winne for a long term stay aboard the ISS as part of the ISS Expeditions 20 and 21 From December 2011 until early July 2012, he worked aboard the ISS as a flight engineer of Expeditions 30 and 31

Kuipers has a visiting professor at the Free University of Amsterdam.

Private

Kuipers is married for the second time and has three children, two daughters from his first marriage.