40 years ago, the world was still trying to adjust to the mindblowing idea that man had indeed managed to walk on the moon. Yesterday, Sweden woke up to the news that Swedish astronaut, Christer Fuglesang, had left the earth for the second time. (The first time was in December 2006.) He is going to spend almost two weeks working on the International Space Station together with his six crewmates on the Discovery space shuttle. On this journey, Fuglesang is scheduled to do work outside the shuttle twice, thus giving him the possibility for more spacewalks.

With the above as a backdrop, it was very interesting to read Sven Grahn's account (in Swedish) of how particle physicist Fuglesang, in the early 1990's, was selected for space training in the European space program. He has come a long way, and indeed struggled both in Russia and in the U.S. for the possibility to carry out the work he has trained for for so long. Good luck on this mission!

Image from the Tizona Group.