The Director General of ESA, Antonio Rodota, together with the Dutch Minister for Foreign Trade, Gerrit Ybema, announced Europe's newest astronaut, Andre Kuipers, on 5 October 1998 at the Space Expo in Noordwijk, The Netherlands. Kuipers, a medical doctor from Amsterdam and celebrating his 40th birthday that day, joined the other 12 astronauts who comprise the European corps. He will begin training around mid-1999 to qualify for future missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The photograph shows (from left) [Image Date: 05-10-98] [98.10.001-016]