Wubbo windsurfing

ESA astronaut Wubbo Ockels windsurfing.

Wubbo was the second ESA astronaut and the first Dutch citizen to go to space, in 1985. During his mission, Spacelab D-1, he orbited Earth 110 times over 168 hours.

Born 28 March 1946, in Almelo, the Netherlands, Wubbo gained a degree in physics and mathematics from the University of Groningen in 1973, and completed his PhD in nuclear physics in 1978.

In the same year Wubbo was selected by ESA as one of three European science astronauts to train for the Spacelab missions, together with Ulf Merbold and Claude Nicollier.

During the first Spacelab mission, he served as ground-communicator and liaison-scientist for the crew on board STS-9.