Minister for Science, Innovation and Universities

Pedro Francisco Duque Duque

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Studies

  • Aeronautical Engineering from the Technical University of Madrid (1986).

Professional experience

  • Responsible for revision of future manned space flights projects of the European Space Agency (ESA).
  • Holds qualifications to be able to return to space flight.
  • Prince of Asturias Prize for International Cooperation 1999, together with the astronauts Chiaki Mukai, John Glenn and Valery Polyakov.
  • European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) of the European Space Agency (ESA) in Darmstadt (Germany) (1986-1992).
  • In May 1992, he was selected to form part of the Astronauts Corps of the ESA based at the European Astronauts Centre in Cologne (Germany).
  • In August 1993, he began preparation for the EUROMIR 94 joint mission.
  • In July 1996, he was chosen by the ESA to be a NASA shuttle flight engineer. He flew to space for the first time as a member of the STS-95 Space Shuttle flight crew, on a joint scientific mission between NASA, the ESA and the Japanese Agency (NASDA).
  • In 2002 and 2003, he trained as a co-pilot (flight engineer) for Soyuz-TMA, qualifying in April 2003.
  • From 18 to 28 October 2003, he took part in the 'Cervantes' mission. On this 10-day mission to the International Space Station, he held the position of flight engineer of the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft for takeoff and approach (together with the eighth crew) and for landing (together with the seventh).
  • After his last space flight, the European Space Agency sent Pedro Duque as Operations Director of the Spanish Centre for Support for Researchers and Operations for the Space Station, attached to the Ignacio da Riva Micro-gravity Institute of the Technical University of Madrid.
  • From 2006 to 2009, he was Executive Chairman of the company Deimos Imaging, S.L., engaged in using data obtained from earth observation satellites. On 29 July 2009, the satellite Deimos-1 became the first Spanish observation satellite.
  • In October 2011, he returned to the European Space Agency.

Non official translation