Ivan Bella
Ivan Bella is a Slovak military pilot and research cosmonaut who became the first citizen of Slovakia to fly in space. His spaceflight came only a few years after the creation of the independent Slovak Republic, which made the mission both a scientific flight and a national milestone.
- Born
- May 21, 1964
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Brezno,Czechoslovakia
Flights
1
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
7 days, 21 hours, 56 minutes
Bio
Before cosmonaut training, Bella served as a Slovak Air Force officer and pilot. He was selected for the Slovak-Russian mission in 1998 and trained at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center for a short-duration visit to Mir.
Bella launched aboard Soyuz TM-29 in February 1999 with Viktor Afanasyev and Jean-Pierre Haigneré. He worked aboard Mir during the Mir Štefánik mission, carrying out Slovak research tasks before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-28 with Gennady Padalka.
His total time in space was just under eight days, but it records Slovakia's first human spaceflight and the way Mir hosted international visiting researchers late in the station's life.