Foto's André Kuipers   André Kuipers (born 1958), of Dutch nationality, was selected to become an astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) in October 1998. He is a medical doctor and has been involved in space-related medical research since 1991 at ESA's technical establishment ESTEC in the Netherlands, including parabolic flight activities. André has been involved in preparing scientific payloads for several space missions, such as: the Space Shuttle/Spacelab D-2 mission in 1993, the joint European-Russian Euromir 95 mission in 1995/96 and the Shuttle/Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission in 1996. André Kuipers was preparing scientific facilities for the International Space station and coordinating experiments for the future Shuttle mission STS-107 planned for launch in early 2003.   André Kuipers (born 1958), of Dutch nationality, was selected to become an astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) in October 1998. He is a medical doctor and has been involved in space-related medical research since 1991 at ESA's technical establishment ESTEC in the Netherlands, including parabolic flight activities. André has been involved in preparing scientific payloads for several space missions, such as: the Space Shuttle/Spacelab D-2 mission in 1993, the joint European-Russian Euromir 95 mission in 1995/96 and the Shuttle/Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission in 1996. André Kuipers was preparing scientific facilities for the International Space station and coordinating experiments for the future Shuttle mission STS-107 planned for launch in early 2003.   André Kuipers (born 1958), of Dutch nationality, was selected to become an astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) in October 1998. He is a medical doctor and has been involved in space-related medical research since 1991 at ESA's technical establishment ESTEC in the Netherlands, including parabolic flight activities. André has been involved in preparing scientific payloads for several space missions, such as: the Space Shuttle/Spacelab D-2 mission in 1993, the joint European-Russian Euromir 95 mission in 1995/96 and the Shuttle/Life and Microgravity Spacelab (LMS) mission in 1996. André Kuipers was preparing scientific facilities for the International Space station and coordinating experiments for the future Shuttle mission STS-107 planned for launch in early 2003.   An artist's impression of Columbus, a cutaway view, the European laboratory module of the International Space Station.   Latest view of ISS taken from Shuttle flight STS-112 in October 2002   Artist's impression showing the rendezvous and docking phase of the Odissea Mission Soyuz-TMA to the International Space Station as it is planned to take place on the morning of 1 November 2002. Last update: 5 december 2002