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26-648: The museum displays one of the two stones that Claude Nicollier took from the summit and brought with him on the Space Shuttle Endeavour STS-61 mission in 1993. The other stone was put back on the summit. 46°1′11″N 7°44′46″E  /  46.01972°N 7.74611°E  / 46.01972; 7.74611 This article related to a museum in Switzerland is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Claude Nicollier Claude Nicollier (born 2 September 1944)

52-531: A cameo appearances on the TV show Home Improvement by Touchstone Television (Series 3, Episode 24, "Reality Bytes"). This article is originally based on Claude Nicollier's biography from NASA, which is in the public domain. Wubbo Ockels Wubbo Johannes Ockels (28 March 1946 – 18 May 2014) was a Dutch physicist and astronaut with the European Space Agency who, in 1985, became

78-667: A Space Shuttle mission (previous ESA astronauts conducted spacewalks aboard Mir , see List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999 ). In 2000 he was assigned to the Astronaut Office Extravehicular Activity Branch, while maintaining a position as Lead ESA Astronaut in Houston . Nicollier retired from ESA in April 2007. He was appointed full professor of Spatial Technology at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne on 28 March 2007. He

104-682: A mission specialist, the first non-American to become a full-time NASA astronaut. Nicollier's technical assignments in the Astronaut Office have included flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), participation in the development of retrieval techniques for the Tethered Satellite System (TSS), Remote Manipulator System (RMS), and International Space Station (ISS) robotics support. From

130-495: A research scientist in various airborne infrared astronomy programs. In July 1978, he was selected by ESA as a member of the first group of European astronauts. Under agreement between ESA and NASA, he joined NASA Astronaut Group 9 selected in May 1980 for astronaut training as a mission specialist. Unlike colleague Wubbo Ockels —who withdrew from training to focus on Spacelab and remained an ESA payload specialist —Nicollier became

156-496: Is the first astronaut from Switzerland. He has flown on four Space Shuttle missions. His first spaceflight ( STS-46 ) was in 1992, and his final spaceflight ( STS-103 ) was in 1999. He took part in two servicing missions to the Hubble Space Telescope (called STS-61 and STS-103). During his final spaceflight he participated in a spacewalk , becoming the first European Space Agency astronaut to do so during

182-819: The Geneva Observatory , before obtaining a post Diploma degree in astrophysics from the University of Geneva in 1975. In parallel, he became a Swiss Air Force pilot in 1966, in the Fliegerstaffel 5 on Hawker Hunter where he holds a commission as captain, and has logged 5,600 hours flying time, including 4,000 hours in jet aircraft. Later, in 1988, he graduated as a test pilot from the Empire Test Pilot's School in Boscombe Down , United Kingdom. In 2004, he started teaching at

208-501: The Nuna projects. He 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 was the first company to invest in the development of this Superbus. 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

234-738: 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

260-621: The École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne , and became a full professor in March 2007. Concurrently with his part-time research activities, he joined the Swiss Air Transport School in Zürich and became an airline pilot in 1974, assigned as a DC-9 pilot for Swissair . At the end of 1976, he accepted a Fellowship at the European Space Agency ’s (ESA) Space Science Department at Noordwijk , Netherlands, where he worked as

286-597: The NASA astronaut candidates at NASA's Johnson Space Center , Houston, Texas . In September 1981 Ockels withdrew from training to focus on Spacelab, and did not become a NASA mission specialist. He rejoined the Spacelab 1 crew for training as a back-up payload specialist to operate experiments. This mission of a reusable, scientific research facility built by the European Space Agency (ESA) took place aboard

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312-661: The Space Shuttle in November 1983. Spacelab 1 was a joint NASA/ESA mission. He was the first Dutch citizen astronaut, not the first Dutch-born astronaut, as he is preceded by the naturalized American Lodewijk van den Berg , who flew on STS-51-B . 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

338-793: The Sun between Mars and Jupiter . The object's full name is 9496 Ockels . Ockels was 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. In 1992, Ockels was appointed part-time professor of aerospace engineering (in particular, Aerospace for Sustainable Engineering and Technology) at Delft University of Technology, and promoted to full-time professor in September 2003. In this function, he oversaw

364-835: The Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences and fellow of the British Interplanetary Society. He is also an honorary member of the Swiss Aero Club, the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects, and the Swiss Astronomy Day Society . Nicollier has spent over 1000 hours in space (42 days, 12 hours and 5 minutes), including one space walk lasting 8 hours and 10 minutes. He served as mission specialist on four missions with four different space shuttles. His first spaceflight

390-687: 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 was named after Wubbo Ockels by the International Astronomical Union . The planetoid orbits

416-526: The aim to convert wind energy at altitude in electricity on the ground in an environmental and cost effective manner. While working at the university he assisted and advised the Nuon Solar Team , a solar racer team consisting of students, which won the biennial World Solar Challenge four consecutive times from 2001 to 2007. Ockels was also the initiator of the Superbus project. He also cofounded

442-587: 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 (30 October to 6 November 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

468-653: 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. In 1978, Ockels 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 the terms of an agreement between ESA and NASA , Ockels and Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier were selected to begin basic mission specialist training with

494-451: The first Dutch citizen in space when he flew on STS-61-A as a payload specialist. He later became professor of aerospace engineering at Delft University of Technology . Ockels was born in Almelo , Netherlands , but considered Groningen to be his hometown. He obtained his MSc degree in physics and mathematics in 1973 and subsequently a PhD degree in the same subjects in 1978 from

520-589: The images taken by the telescope. In 1996 he took part in STS-75 , aboard Space Shuttle Columbia , which deployed TSS-1R , which was a follow-up mission to TSS-1 which had been deployed during STS-46. His final spaceflight was an eight-day mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery , called STS-103 , in 1999. It was the third servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. During this mission Nicollier participated in an 8-hour spacewalk ; it

546-895: The spring of 1996 to the end of 1998, he was head of the Astronaut Office Robotics Branch. From the year 2000 on, he was assigned to the Astronaut Office EVA (Extravehicular Activity) Branch, while maintaining a position as Lead ESA astronaut in Houston. Nicollier retired from ESA in April 2007. He is a member of the Swiss Astronomical Society, the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the Swiss Air Force Officers Society (AVIA), and

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572-464: The sustainable engineering firm "The Green Canals" (De Groene Grachten). In 2009, Ockels presented a talk arguing that the notion of time is human-constructed as a result of our interpretation of the effects of gravity. Ockels was married, had two children and two grandchildren. His sister Marjet Ockels (1943–2016) was a politician. In August 2005, Ockels suffered a severe heart attack , which required his hospitalization. He recovered well and

598-413: Was a joint NASA and Italian Space Agency project. His second spaceflight was as a mission specialist on the 10-day mission aboard Endeavour , called STS-61 , in 1993. It was the first mission to perform maintenance on the Hubble Space Telescope , which had been launched three years previously. The nature of this repair was to correct a 2 nm error in the lens, which caused significant distortion of

624-586: Was an expert board member of Swiss Space Systems , until the company's dissolution. Nicollier was born September 2, 1944. After graduating from the Gymnase de la Cité (high school) in Lausanne in 1962, he studied physics at the University of Lausanne and received a Licentiate degree in 1970. He then worked as a graduate scientist from 1970 to 1973 at the Institute of Astronomy at the university and at

650-614: Was his first, and the first of any ESA astronaut during a Space Shuttle mission. Following his astronaut career, he delivered a lecture on his experiences, “Revisiting Hubble,” at the first Starmus Festival in 2011 in the Canary Islands. The talk was published in the book Starmus: 50 Years of Man in Space . Nicollier has received several awards and honors: He is widowed (Susana Perez of Monterrey , Mexico , died December 2007). Together they had two daughters. Nicollier made

676-647: Was planned to be STS-61-K , which had been scheduled for October 1986, but was cancelled following the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster . Nicollier's first spaceflight was as a mission specialist on the 8-day Space Shuttle mission aboard Atlantis , called STS-46 , in 1992. The crew deployed the European Retrievable Carrier EURECA , as well as the Tethered Satellite System-1 , which

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