André Kuipers
André Kuipers is a Dutch physician and retired ESA astronaut who flew two Soyuz/ISS missions. He became the first Dutch astronaut to make a second trip to space.
- Born
- October 5, 1958
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Amsterdam,Netherlands
Flights
2
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
203 days, 15 hours, 50 minutes
Bio
Kuipers studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam and worked in aerospace medicine and life-sciences research before becoming an astronaut. ESA selected him into the European Astronaut Corps in 1998.
His first mission, DELTA, launched on Soyuz TMA-4 in 2004 and returned on Soyuz TMA-3 after an 11-day ISS research visit. His second mission, PromISSe, launched on Soyuz TMA-03M and kept him aboard the ISS for 30 and 31.
Kuipers spent more than 203 days in space and became a major public science communicator in the Netherlands. His record keeps his two Soyuz flight cards separate while describing the DELTA and PromISSe science work inside them.