Status: Retired
3/14/1963 –
Nationality: Spanish
Type: Government
First Flight: 10/29/1998
Last Flight: 10/18/2003
Pedro Francisco Duque Duque, OF, OMSE (Madrid, 14 March 1963) is a Spanish astronaut and aeronautics engineer, currently serving as Spain’s Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities. He was the first Spanish astronaut.
Duque underwent training in both Russia and the United States. His first spaceflight was as a mission specialist aboard space shuttle mission STS-95, during which Duque supervised ESA experimental modules. In October 2003, Duque visited the International Space Station on board of a Soyuz TMA Ship for several days during a crew changeover. The scientific program of this visit was called by ESA/Spain Misión Cervantes.
European Space Agency - ESA
- Type: Multinational
- Abbreviation: ESA
- Administration: Director General: Josef Aschbacher
- Founded: 1975
- Country: AUT,BEL,CZE,DNK,FIN,FRA,DEU,GRC,IRE,ITA,LUZ,NLD,NOR,POL,PRT,ROU,ESP,SWE,CHE,GBR
The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,000 employees.
ESA’s space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.
