In 1992, Claude Nicollier, who was born in Vevey on the shore of Lake Geneva, went on the first of four space shuttle flights. Nicollier, along with Franco Malerba from Italy were the only non-Americans on board the shuttle in 1992. Now, Marco Sieber, a doctor of urology at the hospital of Biel/Bienne, is set to be Switzerland’s second astronaut, reported SRF.
The 34-year old doctor, who has been undertaking astronaut training at the European Space Agency (ESA) since April 2023, hopes to be heading to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2026 as part of a team on a scheduled visit.
Sieber is no stranger to flying and operating in stressful environments. He had early flying experiences with his father in a glider. He then trained as a parachutist for the Swiss army, was a head doctor for the Swisscoy mission to Kosovo in 2018 and worked as an emergency doctor for the mountain helicopter rescue service Air-Glaciers.
He also has helpful hobbies, which include parachuting, ski touring, kite surfing, paragliding and piloting private aircraft.
One of his new hobbies is learning Russian, a requirement to ensure he can communicate with the Russians in the ISS.
More on this:
SRF article (in German)
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