Zeeland astronaut Lodewijk van den Berg (90) has died

Astronaut Lodewijk van den Berg has died aged 90. Van den Berg was the first Dutch-born astronaut, although he had already been a naturalized American by the time of his spaceflight.

From April 29 to May 6, 1985, Van den Berg was a crew member aboard the space shuttle Challenger of the American space agency NASA. Van den Berg conducted research on the effects of weightlessness on crystal growth. He carried a Zeeland flag into space in memory of his origin.

Van den Berg grew up in Sluiskil (Zeeland) and studied chemical technology in Delft. In the 1960s he left for the United States and in 1975 he received an American passport. Accordingly, it was not Van den Berg but Wubbo Ockels, who went into space six months after Van den Berg, officially as the first Dutch astronaut.

Two years ago Told Van den Berg told NOS how he experienced the launch: “They put you in this thing, you get a slap on the shoulder and the last thing they say is: good flight, we hope to see you again.”

He had to wait two hours for the countdown. “A checklist is being filled out and you’re listening to it. You don’t have much time to think about anything else, but at some point you wonder why you wanted to start over.”

Van den Berg always felt strongly connected to his native soil, writes Zeeland Broadcasting. He came back every year for years. In 2013 a statue was unveiled in Sluiskil honoring his achievements and in 2018 a school was named after him in Terneuzen, Lodewijk College.

There is also an asteroid named after Van den Berg, which orbits between the planets Mars and Jupiter.