19 april 2017

Walk of Space

Since September 2013 the town of Noordwijk has a "Walk of Space", consisting of a number of tiles in the pavement of the Queen Wilhelmina Boulevard. With this they try to draw attention to space travel in general and their connection with it through the Space Expo: the town's permanent space exhibition which is also the visitor's center for ESA in the Netherlands.
The photo above shows the imprint of an original moonboot by Wubbo Ockels, the first Dutch astronaut who stayed inside the space ship Challenger for 7 days back in 1985.

Another one I'd like to show you is a handprint from André Kuipers, another Dutch astronaut who turned into a true national celebrity in 2011/2012 after he was selected for a 6 month mission to contribute to the International Space Station (ISS) project. The launch into space as well as his return to earth were broadcasted live on television, and there was lot of media attention for his stay inside the space station where he did all kinds of experiments and tests. Because of his enthusiasm the reports from space were a great pleasure to watch.

I'm linking to signs, signs.

17 opmerkingen:

  1. Das nog eens wat anders dan een betonnen tegel met handafdruk. Echt prachtig gedaan.

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  2. What a wonderful tribute. Space travel is such an international event.

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  3. Those moon boots must have been massive.

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  4. ...a part of history that I was not familiar of.

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  5. Really cool! Amazing to think Andre Kuipers spent 204 days in space!

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  6. They are incroyably brave those space adventurers Marleen, I don't think even if my life depended on it 😀😀

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  7. I did not realize that your country had astronauts, Marleen. That's wonderful. I'm in the same boat as Grace of Perth; no way would I ever dare adventure into space. Such people have a kind of bravery unknown to me! :)

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  8. Space travelers are an unique brand. It is wonderful that some people are willing to explore space for the benefit of mankind. Those boots are huge.

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  9. Who knew that the Netherlands had astronauts? That foot print is huge.

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  10. I didn't know about the Dutch astronauts either! How interesting.

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  11. "Walk of Space" ..

    een originele wijze om daar de aandacht op te vestigen Marleen

    prettige dag

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  12. Those are sure some huge boots to fill!

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Don't be shy and leave a comment. I'd love to read what you think!