This Week in Space! December 9, 2006 – First Swedish Astronaut in Space

Featured image Arne Christer Fuglesang. Image courtesy NASA.

By Wes O’Donnell
Managing Editor of In Military, InCyberDefense and In Space News.

This week in 2006, the first Swedish astronaut launched aboard space shuttle Discovery as a mission specialist for mission STS-116.

Arne Christer Fuglesang, born March 18, 1957, in Stockholm, is a physicist and a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut.

Spacewalks during STS-116 Mission

• First spacewalk with the primary task of Installation of the P5 truss segment performed together with Astronaut Robert Curbeam as EV1.
• EV2 during second spacewalk included first part of rewiring the power system of the ISS, specifically channel 2 and 3. Also performed together with Astronaut Robert Curbeam as EV1.
• An extra spacewalk (EVA4) successfully fixed a problem when retracting a solar panel. Also performed together with Astronaut Curbeam as EV1. EVA duration: 6h 38min.

The second spacewalk of STS-116 was the 75^th in the International Space Station’s history.

According to NASA, “Discovery separated from the International Space Station on Dec. 19 to begin two days of final homecoming preparations, including a focused inspection of the orbiter’s heat shield, deployment of three small scientific satellites and a checkout of landing systems.”