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Wubbo Ockels is a The Netherlands|Dutch physicist
and astronaut. In 1985 he participated in a flight
of the Space Shuttle program|space shuttle Space
Shuttle Challenger|Challenger, making him the
first Dutchman in space. Ockels is currently a
part-time professor of aeronautics and space
travel at the Delft University of Technology.

Ockels was born March 28, 1946, in Almelo  but
considers Groningen (city)|Groningen, to be his
hometown. He received a Ph.D. degree in physics
and mathematics from the University of Groningen
in 1973. His thesis was based experimental work at
the Nuclear Physics Accelerator Institute (K.V.I.)
in Groningen in 1978.

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 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.

==Challenger mission==
In 1978, he was selected by the European Space
Agency (ESA) as one of three European payload
specialists to train for the STS-9|Spacelab 1
mission. In May 1980, under agreement between ESA
and NASA,  Ockels was selected to begin the basic
astronaut training for mission specialist together
with the NASA astronaut candidates at NASA's
Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas. He
successfully completed this training in August
1981. He rejoined the STS-9|Spacelab 1 crew for
training as a back-up payload specialist to
operate experiments aboard Spacelab 1. This
mission of a reusable, scientific research
facility built by the European Space Agency (ESA)
took place aboard the Space Shuttle in November
1983. Spacelab 1 was a joint NASA/ESA mission.

Ockels flew as a payload specialist on the crew of
STS-61-A|STS-61A Challenger (October 30 to
November 6, 1985). STS-61-A|STS-61A was the West
German D-1 Spacelab mission. It was the first to
carry eight crew members, the largest to fly in
space, and was also the first in which payload
activities were controlled from outside the United
States. More than 75 scientific experiments were
completed in the areas of physiology|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 is named after Wubbo Ockels by
the International Astronomical Union. The
planetoid orbits the Sun between Mars and Jupiter.
The objects full name is 9496 Ockels.

Ockels is 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.

Ockels is married with two children.

In August 2005, Ockels had a severe heart attack
which required his hospitalization.
http://www.expatica.com/source/site_article.asp?su
bchannel_id=19&story_id=23114&name=Former+Dutch+as
tronaut+in+hospital

==References==
*Portions of this article are based on public
domain text from
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ockels-wj.ht
ml NASA.