Christer Fuglesang launched into space

Sweden’s first man in space and previous KTH student Christer Fuglesang has been appointed Mission Specialist on his second trip into space. This mission is entitled STS-128.

During his mission at the space station Christer and his colleagues will change an ammonia tank and transfer experiments from the outside of ESA’s Columbus module to Discovery’s freight deck. Christer will also participate in two of the mission’s three space walks. In addition he will, in his capacity as loadmaster, ensure that everything is removed from the Leonardo module correctly and placed in the right position on ISS.

Part of Christer Fuglesang’s free time on board will be used for measuring particle radiation around the earth. There is a particle meter waiting on board ISS that he himself has made the design concept for and that was built at KTH.

This meter will show, with the help of light diodes and sound, how high the level of particle radiation is on board the space station and will show how particles from space strike ISS. Christer Fuglesang will be documenting all this for a film which will then be used in different types of school activities.

In December 2006, Christer Fuglesang became the first Swede in space when he travelled on the space shuttle Discovery to the international space station ISS. Christer Fuglesang was born in Stockholm in 1957 and studied Technical Physics at KTH. Then he graduated as a Doctor of Experimental Particle Physics from Stockholm University in 1987 before he was accepted to the ESA astronaut training programme. Christer Fuglesang is also an Affiliated Professor at KTH.

Christer Gummeson