Soyuz TMA-03M launched 2011

Soyuz TMA-03M crew (L-R): Donald Pettit, Oleg Kononenko, Andre Kuipers

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-03M, launched December 21, 2011, carried members of Expedition 30 to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Oleg Kononenko (Roscosmos), Andre Kuipers (ESA), and Donald Pettit (NASA).  They returned to Earth July 2012, which marked the end of Expedition 31 and the beginning of Expedition 32.

Soyuz TMA-3 launched 2003

Soyuz TMA-3 crew (L-R): Pedro Duque, Aleksandr Kaleri, Michael Foale

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-3, launched October 18, 2003, was the seventh trip to the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander Aleksandr Kaleri (Roscosmos), Michael Foale (British astronaut, NASA) and Pedro Duque (Spanish astronaut, ESA).  Kaleri and Foale were part of Expedition 8, but Pedro Duque returned on Soyuz TMA-2 about a week later. 

Kaleri and Foale returned to Earth in April 2004 with Andre Kuipers (Dutch astronaut, ESA) after more than 194 days.

Happy birthday, Dutch astronaut André Kuipers

Andre Kuipers, born October 5, 1958 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is the second Dutch citizen and the third Dutch-born astronaut in space.  The first Dutch-born astronaut, Lodewijk van den Berg was born in Zeeland but had become a U.S. citizen when he flew on the Space Shuttle, so was no longer a Dutch citizen. 

Kuipers was accepted into the ESA Astronaut Corps in 1998.  His first trip into space was aboard Soyuz TMA-4 in April 2004 to the International Space Station.  He conducted 21 experiments in just 11 days before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TMA-3.

He returned to space December 2011 aboard Soyuz TMA-03M to the ISS as the Flight Engineer and Medical Crew Officer.  He remained until July 1, 2012 when he returned to Earth.