A Swede in space
12 December 2006
23 years ago, Ulf Merbold became the first ESA astronaut to fly in space. Since then, astronauts from many of ESA’s member states have followed in Merbold’s footsteps. Now, after 14 years of waiting, it is the turn of Christer Fuglesang, the first Swedish citizen to go into orbit.
Shuttle mission STS-116 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 9 December (local time), carrying Fuglesang and six NASA colleagues. After a two-day flight, Discovery docked with the International Space Station. The astronauts were greeted warmly by the Station’s crew of three, including ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter.
The main purpose of the visit is to continue building the huge, complex Station. Fuglesang will play a key role, taking part in two of the three spacewalks planned for the mission. On 12 December, he will leave the station with Robert Curbeam for a 6-hour spacewalk to install a new truss segment. This will eventually become the home for 4 solar arrays that will be moved to this location next summer.
The same pair will carry out another 6-hour spacewalk on 14 December. This time they will boost the Station’s power supply by connecting a set of new solar arrays and radiators. These huge pieces of hardware were delivered last September by another Shuttle.
During his 12-day “Celsius” mission - named after a famous Swedish scientist – Fuglesang will also conduct a series of scientific experiments. And the former frisbee champion hopes to use his weightless environment to break the time record for a flying frisbee.
