Pedro Duke

Pedro Francisco Duque Duque (Madrid, March 14, 1963) is an astronaut, aeronautical engineer and politician known mainly for having been the first astronaut to travel to space representing Spain. Since June from 2018 to July 2021, he served as Minister of Science and Innovation of the Government of Spain.

Biography

Official photo of Pedro Duque as an astronaut in 1998

He was born in Madrid. His father, a native of Badajoz and from a career military family, was an air traffic controller, and her mother, also born in Badajoz, was a teacher.

Pedro Duque graduated in 1986 from the Higher Technical School of Aeronautical and Space Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. In that same year he began working at the Spanish business group GMV, where he was assigned to the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt (Germany) to carry out work within the framework of the European Space Agency. In 1992, he was selected in one of the contests carried out by said agency to find people who can develop the work of a cosmonaut.

It was prepared in the City of Stars in Moscow (Russia) and in the United States. His first space mission was the nine-day STS-95 of the space shuttle Discovery, between October and November 1998, during which she supervised the experimental module of the European Space Agency (ESA). In October 2003, Duque participated in another trip, in which he was launched on a Soyuz TMA spacecraft, working as a flight engineer and visiting the International Space Station for ten days to carry out the Cervantes Mission.

From November 2003 to October 2006, he worked at the ETSI Aeronáuticos of the Polytechnic University of Madrid, as Director of Operations for the Spanish USOC, having given several lectures for students of both the ETSI Aeronáuticos and the EUIT Aeronáuticos at the framework of a free choice course called "Science and operations in space".

In 2006 he was appointed CEO of Deimos Imaging, S. L., a company located in the Boecillo Technology Park (Valladolid) that on July 29, 2009 put into orbit the first Spanish Earth observation satellite that allows improve the use of land in agriculture, advance in the detection and control of fires, and ensure the health of forests. In 2010 he assumed the position of executive president of this company, replacing Francisco Javier Martínez de Irujo.

In October 2011, Duque returned to the European Space Agency after his leave of absence, where he resumed his position as astronaut. From 2011 to 2015 she led the Office of Flight Operations, with responsibility for European activities on the International Space Station. She later became responsible for reviewing future ESA projects for manned flights, within the ESA Astronaut Corps.

As of June 2017, he is a crew member on the NEEMO 22 mission: June 18 to June 28, 2017. NEEMO, an acronym for NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations, is a NASA analog mission that sends groups of astronauts, engineers, and scientists to live in the Aquarius underwater laboratory, the world's only underwater research station, for a maximum period of three weeks as preparation for future space exploration.

NASA aquanaut crew: Kjell Lindgren, NASA, Commander Pedro Duke, ESA Jacobs Trevor Graff, Planetary Science Engineer, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston Dominic D'Agostino, a scientist at the University of South Florida and the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition

On June 6, 2018, his new position as Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities of the Government of Spain was announced under the presidency of Pedro Sánchez.

Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities

Photographed in 2018 in La Moncloa with its portfolio of minister.

Duque was chosen by Pedro Sánchez as Minister of Science, Innovation and Universities of his new government, after the success of the motion of censure that the PSOE presented against the previous government of Mariano Rajoy (PP) in June 2018, becoming the second astronaut to hold a ministry in the world, after the Canadian Marc Garneau.

Pedro Duque opted for innovation from the outset, indicating that it was necessary to decisively support technological development and basic research, since, according to the minister, the countries that invest the most in research are richer.

As Minister of Science, he focused part of his efforts on his main area of knowledge, space, approving a six-year plan (2020-2026) consisting of increasing Spain's contribution to the European Space Agency by 700 million. The National Supercomputing Center, belonging mostly to the Ministry of Science, presented its candidacy at the beginning of 2019 to host one of the fastest supercomputers in the world, financed by the European Commission. In June, said candidacy won the contest.

Special Honors

• On 21 March 1995, he received the Order of Friendship, granted by President Borís Yeltsin of the Russian Federation.
• On 8 January 1999, he received the Grand Cross to the Aeronautical Merit, imposed by King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

• In October 1999, he received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation together with astronauts Chiaki Mukai, John Glenn and Valery Polyakov. The award was awarded to them by "becoming representatives of the architects of international cooperation in the peaceful exploration of space".
• In October 2005 he was appointed a doctor honoris causa by the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
• On 26 February 2007 he was appointed SGE 2006 National Award by the Spanish Geographic Society. They gave the prize don Felipe and doña Letizia, then princes of Asturias.
• On 12 April 2011, he received the Medal for Merits at the Space Exploration of the Russian Federation.
• In April 2013 he was appointed doctor honoris causa by the European University of Madrid.
• In June 2016 he is appointed doctor honoris causa by the National University of Distance Education.
• In June 2017 he is appointed doctor honoris causa by the University of Almeria.

• On December 29, 2021 he received the Grand Cross of the Real and Distinguished Spanish Order of Carlos III, granted by President Pedro Sánchez of the Government of Spain.