Wubbo Johannes Ockels is a
Dutch
physicist and astronaut. In 1985 he participated in a
flight of the
space shuttle,
making him the first and only Dutch citizen in space, until the
flight of Dutch astronaut
Andre
Kuipers to the
International Space Station
in 2004. He is not the first Dutch-born astronaut, because he is
preceded by the naturalized American
Lodewijk van den Berg.
Ockels is currently
professor of Aerospace for Sustainable Engineering and
Technology at the Delft University of Technology
.
Ockels was
born March 28, 1946, in
Almelo
but considers Groningen
to be his hometown. His obtained his
MSc degree in 1973 and
subsequently a
PhD degree in
physics and
mathematics in 1978 from the
University of Groningen. His thesis
was based on experimental work at the Nuclear-physics Accelerator
Institute (KVI) in Groningen.
From 1973 to 1978, Ockels performed experimental investigations at
the Nuclear Physics Accelerator Institute in Groningen. His work
concerned the
gamma-ray decay of nuclear systems directly after
formation and the development of a data-handling system involving
design of electronics and programming of
real-time software. He also contributed
to the design and construction of position-sensitive charged
particle detectors. While at the K.V.I. Institute, Ockels
supervised the practical work of first-year physics students at the
University of Groningen.
Astronaut career
Wubbo Ockels in his astronaut days.
In 1978,
he was selected by the European Space Agency
(ESA) as one of three European payload specialists
to train for the Spacelab 1 mission.
In May
1980, under agreement between ESA and NASA
, Ockels and
Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier
were selected to begin the basic astronaut training for mission
specialist together with the NASA astronaut candidates at NASA's
Johnson Space
Center
, Houston,
Texas
. Ockels successfully completed this training
in August 1981. He rejoined the
Spacelab 1
crew for training as a back-up payload specialist to operate
experiments aboard Spacelab 1. This mission of a reusable,
scientific research facility built by the European Space Agency
(ESA) took place aboard the Space Shuttle in November 1983.
Spacelab 1 was a joint NASA/ESA mission. Having served his role as
back-up payload specialist for German astronaut
Ulf Merbold, he took his place in Mission
Control in Houston as the primary communicator between the
astronauts working in Spacelab and the Mission Management Team in
Houston.
Ockels flew as a payload specialist on the crew of
STS-61A Challenger (
October
30 to
November 6,
1985).
STS-61A was the West
German D-1 Spacelab mission. It was the first to carry eight crew
members, (five Americans, two Germans and Ockels); the largest to
fly in space; and was also the first in which payload activities
were controlled from outside the United States: from the DLR
control center in Germany. More than 75 scientific experiments were
completed in the areas of
physiological
sciences,
materials science,
biology, and
navigation. At mission conclusion Ockels had
traveled 2.5 million miles in 110 Earth orbits, and logged over 168
hours in space.
A small
planetoid is named after Wubbo
Ockels by the
International Astronomical
Union. The planetoid orbits the Sun between
Mars and
Jupiter. The object's
full name is
9496 Ockels.Ockels is a
member of the
American
Physical Society and the
European Physical Society.
From 1999
to 2003, he was head of ESA
's Office for Educational Projects Outreach
Activities.
Scientific career
In 1992, Ockels was appointed part-time professor
Aerospace Engineering (in particular,
Aerospace for Sustainable Engineering and Technology) at the Delft
University of Technology, and promoted to full-time professor in
September 2003. In this function, he has overseen the
Nuna projects. He has also proposed the development of
a
Superbus, a new method of high
speed (250 km/hour)
public
transportation by road. The public transportation company
Connexxion is the first company to invest
in the development of this Superbus..
Currently Wubbo Ockels is involved in his "LadderMill"
sustainable energy program. A
Laddermill is a kind of
windmill consisting of a "ladder" of "kites". As
quoted from his website:
The LadderMill is the response to the challenge for
exploiting the gigantic energy source contained in the airspace up
to high altitudes of 10 km.
The concept has been developed with the aim to convert
wind energy at altitude in electricity on the ground in an
environmental and cost effective manner.
Personal life
Ockels is married and has two children.
In August 2005, Ockels suffered a severe
heart attack which required his
hospitalization.
He has recovered well and has resumed his
work at the Delft University of Technology.
Whilst working at the university he has assisted and advised the
Nuon Solar Team, a
solar racer team consisting of students,
which has won the
World Solar
Challenge 4 consecutive times from 2001 to 2007.
See also
References
External links
Wikis
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