CERN's prodigal stuffed toy comes back from outer space
Christer Fuglesang, a former physicist who worked at CERN and now an European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut brought back to CERN a neutralino he had taken along on his mission to the Internal Space Station in 2009. The said neutralino is in fact a stuffed toy created by particle zookeeper Julie Peasley, creator of the Particle Zoo. It represents a hypothetical fundamental particle proposed within a new theory called supersymmetry. Read more
Dr. Arne Christer Fuglesang (born March 18, 1957 in Stockholm) is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut. He was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on December 10, 2006, at 01:47 GMT, making him the first Swedish citizen in space. Read more
The launch date for the STS-128 mission to the International Space Station with Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled for no earlier than Monday 24 August. The crew of seven includes ESA astronaut Christer Fuglesang of Sweden, on his second spaceflight, a mission dubbed 'Alissé'. For a launch on 24 August, liftoff is scheduled for 07:58 CEST from Pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Centre at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Docking with the International Space Station (ISS) will occur on mission day three (26 August). On entering the ISS, Christer Fuglesang will be welcomed by fellow ESA astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium, aboard since 29 May.
With the arrival this week of space shuttle Discovery at its launch pad, Nasa has begun the final round of preparations for a critical space station assembly mission that promises to test the mettle of the seven-member crew. The launch is set for 7 December. In the thick of a complicated series of tasks to rewire the station - hopefully without serious interruption to the resident crew aboard - will be Sweden's first astronaut, Christer Fuglesang.
With two months to go before he is hurled into space, Swedish astronaut Christer Fuglesang has been told to get his will in order.
"It isn't so simple to sort out your will here in the USA and it is a requirement that we must do so after the Columbia accident" - Fuglesang in his latest newsletter from the training centre in Houston.