16 Facts About Christer Fuglesang

Arne Christer Fuglesang was born on 18 March 1957 and is a Swedish physicist and an ESA astronaut.

Christer Fuglesang was first launched aboard the STS-116 Space Shuttle mission on 10 December 2006, making him the first Swedish citizen in space.

Christer Fuglesang has participated in two Space Shuttle missions and five spacewalks, and is the first person outside of the United States or Russian space programs to participate in more than three spacewalks.

Christer Fuglesang graduated from the Bromma Gymnasium, Stockholm in 1975, earned a master's degree in engineering physics from the Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm in 1981, and received a doctorate in experimental particle physics from Stockholm University in 1987.

Christer Fuglesang became an associate professor of particle physics at Stockholm University in 1991.

Christer Fuglesang married Elisabeth Fuglesang in 1983, whom he met at the Royal Institute of Technology.

Christer Fuglesang is a prominent member of the Swedish skeptics association Vetenskap och Folkbildning and identifies strongly with skeptics and atheists.

In 2012, Christer Fuglesang received the Royal Institute of Technology 2012 Alumni of the Year award.

In November 1990, Christer Fuglesang obtained a position at the Manne Siegbahn Institute of Physics, Stockholm, but remained stationed at CERN for another year working towards the new Large Hadron Collider project.

Since 1990, when stationed in Sweden, Christer Fuglesang taught mathematics at the Royal Institute of Technology.

In May 1992, Christer Fuglesang was selected to join the European Astronaut Corps of the European Space Agency based at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany.

Christer Fuglesang joined the Mission Specialist Class at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, in August 1996, and qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist in April 1998.

Christer Fuglesang was awarded the Russian Soyuz Return Commander certificate, which qualifies him to command a three-person Soyuz capsule on its return from space.

Christer Fuglesang continued with some scientific work and was involved with the SilEye experiment which investigated light flashes in astronauts' eyes on Mir between 1995 and 1999.

Christer Fuglesang has initiated the DESIRE project to simulate and estimate the radiation environment inside ISS.

Christer Fuglesang took one of his personal frisbees to the International Space Station.