Dirk Frimout
| Dirk Frimout | |
|---|---|
|
|
| Country: |
 Belgium
|
| selected on | December 27, 1985 |
| Calls: | 1 space flight |
| Begin: | March 24, 1992 |
| Landing: | April 2, 1992 |
| Time in space: | 8d 22h 9min |
| retired on | April 1992 |
| Space flights | |
|
|
Dirk Dries David Damiaan, Viscount Frimout (born March 21, 1941 in Poperinge , West Flanders , Belgium ) is the first Belgian astronaut .
Frimout received his diploma in electrical engineering in 1963 and has been a doctor of physics since 1970. From 1965 to 1978 he worked at the Belgian Institute for Height Research, where he carried out experiments with stratospheric balloons and sounding rockets, among other things.
He then moved to the European Space Agency and coordinated the activities of the spaceflight candidates and the Spacelab experiments. From 1989 he worked in the European Space Research and Technology Center .
He had already applied to be an astronaut in 1977, but was not accepted. Another attempt in 1985 was successful. Frimout was under discussion as a substitute for the STS-61-K shuttle flight . After the space shuttle Challenger crashed, this flight was canceled before the crew was officially nominated.
After the resumption of shuttle flights, Frimout supervised the ATLAS-1 experiment (Atmospheric Laboratory for Applications and Science) at NASA . When the payload specialist Michael Lampton, planned for space flight, had to be removed from the team for medical reasons, Frimout moved up.
Frimout took off on March 24, 1992 with the space shuttle Atlantis for its first space flight. Together with six Americans he took part in the STS-45 mission. He circled the earth 143 times and returned to earth on April 2, 1992.
After his space flight, Frimout was raised to the nobility by the Belgian King Albert II , his title being that of Viscount (French) or Burggraaf (Dutch). In May 1992 the asteroid (5115) Frimout was named after him.
In 1993 he moved from ESA to a research department at the telecommunications company Belgacom . In 1994 he founded the Euro Space Foundation to promote science. Since 1998 he has been working for Flanders Language Valley Foundation in Ypres and is involved in the development of language computers.
Dirk Frimout is married and has two children.
See also
Web links
- Euro Space Foundation (Dutch / French)
supporting documents
- Biography ( Memento from December 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- spacefacts.de: Short biography
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Frimout, Dirk |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Frimout, Dirk Dries David Damiaan Vicomte (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Belgian astronaut |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 21, 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Poperinge , Belgium |