He explained how his work is very varied on board the International Space Station, with tasks in many of the different modules. He is settling into life on board the orbital outpost and described how the sunsets and sunrises are some of his favourite things to look at when he has some free time to look out one of the Station’s windows.

Kuipers will stay this time five months in space. He will returns to earth on May 16. Kuipers is the third astronaut from the Netherlands. Dr. Ockels and Louis van den Berg had been one week in space in 1985.

Kuipers stayed 10 days, 20 hours, 52 minutes and 15 seconds in space during his last journey. That milestone he broke slightly after Sunday 11 hours Dutch time.

Kuipers will stay this time five months in space. He will returns to earth on May 16. Kuipers is the third astronaut from the Netherlands. Dr. Ockels and Louis van den Berg had been one week in space in 1985.

The first days in space were mainly dedicated to get used to, explore and enjoy the view, said Kuipers.

Watch the special New Year’s message from the Expedition 30 crew members aboard the International Space Station.

Every crew destined for the International Space Station must endure two days of final exams in the simulators at Star City near Moscow before they are cleared for flight.

And it is not a formality — they have to show they can control their Soyuz spacecraft and handle the Station in all situations.

Following an ESA space mission has never been easier. André is tweeting on @astro_andre and writing his own mission diary in Dutch (‘Logboek’). A special mission blog was also launched yesterday: the PromISSe blog covers everything around the mission.

NASA selected CSISD to participate on behalf of the U.S., along with 3,700 other students from more than 25 cities worldwide. The initiative supports the goals of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition, and First Lady Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” program announced in June 2010. Both efforts are designed to encourage Americans to adopt a healthy lifestyle that includes regular physical activity and good nutrition.

At a final event Thursday at College Station Tiger Stadium in Texas, NASA Associate Administrator for Education and former astronaut Leland Melvin and astronaut Rick Linnehan shared their space travel experience with students. They also discussed the importance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) studies.

“The physical fitness portion of Mission X is vital, because fit kids can make better students,” Melvin said. “But, the team-building aspect is essential to what we do at NASA, from constructing the International Space Station to launching complex science missions. Helping students excel in science and engineering and encouraging them to pursue those careers helps NASA develop future explorers, who will reach higher and take us on the next grand exploration challenge.”

At the finale to Mission X, students also toured the “Driven To Explore” NASA trailer and participated in exploration-inspired activities. Certificates of participation were presented to each of the schools.

“Mission X is all about inspiring and educating our youth to live a healthy lifestyle, with a focus on improving their overall daily physical activity,” said Dennis Grounds, NASA manager of the Human Research Program at Johnson. “All of the countries involved saw this as a national concern. The program was an outstanding success due to a truly inspired effort by the NASA team, the European Space Agency team and the national space agencies of France and Germany.”

During the six-week Mission X, participants completed physical activities modeled after the real-life training requirements of humans traveling in space. Students practiced teamwork while participating in training missions targeting strength, endurance, coordination and balance. They also gained an understanding of the science behind nutrition and physical fitness by participating in hands-on activities involving human energy requirements, hydration and bone strength.

Mission X enabled several space agencies and various partner institutions to collaborate to address the quality of health and fitness education and challenge students to be more physically active. The program increased awareness of the importance of lifelong fitness and its vital role in human performance for exploration. As a result, students may be motivated to pursue careers in STEM fields.

The global challenge is coordinated online, where countries can post updates and submit points. The public is invited to track the progress of the teams. The 18 core activities of the challenge are available for download at the site in seven languages.

Visit the site at: http://www.trainlikeanastronaut.org

Netherlands challenge teams are hosted in Amsterdam, De Lier, Den Haag, Leiden, Lelystad, Linschoten, Noordwijk, Zwolle. To learn more about what ESA is doing to get students inspired about human spaceflight, check out www.esa.int/spaceflight/education.

In the future, participants hope to expand the pilot program and offer more schools and countries the opportunity to participate. NASA’s Human Research Program at the Johnson Space Center in Houston sponsored the U.S. component of the challenge.

To follow the progress of Mission X teams, visit: http://www.trainlikeanastronaut.org

For more information about NASA’s Human Research Program, visit: http://humanresearch.jsc.nasa.gov

SOURCE NASA

The space agency said in a release late Saturday that Tim Kopra will be OK. But officials are still evaluating if he’ll be able to perform his duties when the shuttle Discovery launches to the International Space Station on Feb. 24.

The STS-133′s 11-day mission to the International Space Station is scheduled to launch Feb. 24.

The shuttle’s primary goal is to deliver the new Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM) to the space station, NASA said. The PMM will provide additional storage for the station crew and experiments may be conducted inside it, such as fluid physics, materials science, biology and biotechnology.

Kuipers will leave for the ISS in December 2011 and return to earth in June 2012, a spokesperson for Dutch economy minister Maria van der Hoeven confirmed after it was reported in the Telegraaf newspaper Wednesday.

Van der Hoeven, who has presided over the European Space Agency (ESA) for the past two years, personally lobbied to have a Dutchman in space again. Kuipers made his first trip to the ISS in 2004, becoming the second Dutch national in space after Wubbo Ockels in 1985.

The first Dutch-born astronaut to have been to space is Lodewijk van den Berg. Van den Berg was launched aboard Space Shuttle Challenger on April 29, 1985, as a Payload Specialist of mission STS-51B. During the seven-day mission, Van den Berg conducted several experiments on crystal growth.

“The choice for Kuipers once again confirms the leading position of the Dutch in space,” the minister said.

Kuipers (1958) studied medicine at the University of Amsterdam and for two years worked for the department of aviation medicine of the Dutch royal airforce. In December 2002 he was chosen as the board engineer for the Delta mission to the ISS, which took place in 2004. Kuipers conducted scientific, technical and educational experiments while on board.

Kuipers states that he had dreamed of becoming an astronaut ever since he was a teenager. His dreams became reality when he was selected to the European Astronaut Corps in 1998.

It is expected that Kuipers will once again work on behalf of the European scientific and educational space programme when he departs for the ISS in 2011.

Kuipers and two other astronauts will be taken to the ISS by the Russian Sojuz rocket from Kazachstan.