We are extremely happy to have ESA astronaut André Kuipers with us here today. He told us about his time at the International Space Station and his return to Earth.

When asked about how sick astronauts feel upon their return to Earth, and how that would work on Mars, he says "When you land on Mars there’s nobody there to carry you out of the capsule... well at least that’s what we think!"

He also tells us: "Space will be used for more then we think in the future..." and that his favourite part of the ISS is the Cupola because "From the Cupola I could see the entire Europe by turning my head."

Thank you for your visit!

Thanks for JJ!

A media moment with ESA astronaut J-F Clervoy at ILA Tweetup Credit: Jaroslaw Jaworski

We have just arrived from a visit to the ZERO-G. Guided by Jean-Francois Clervoy and Ulrike Friedrich, we were able to see the experiments that are currently on board and, after covering our shoes, the padded area which had been emptied for this occasion.

Awesome!

Martin Zell is responsible for European science exploitation and utilisation on the ISS.

• Research outside the ISS: long-term radiation monitoring
• Inside: ESA's Columbus lab has been in use now for several years
• Results: ESA has completed ~220 investigations to date on the ISS
• Some experiments run for years before concluding!
• Topics range from biology and bio-technology to earth/space, human research and education
• "We do very well considering we only have 8% of the ISS"

Human research - targets future long-term voyages in space and how space science can assist earth diagnoses and cures

• Cardio, vascular, physiology

Fluids research

• Nano properties of fuels and liquids; sea water

Materials research

• Casting of metals, turbine blades, metallic foams

... and much more

Kris is presenting today at the DLR/ESA ILA Tweetup in Berlin! We'll post an update on his presentation shortly. PS: Astronaut Paolo Nespoli has joined Kris on stage to provide 'in-flight over view' of ATV missions.

Editor's note: Read more updates featuring Kris via the ATV Blog (http://blogs.esa.int/atv).

ESA Mission Director Kris Capelle at ATV-CC on docking day, 24 Feb 2011 Credit: ESA

• The ATV vessel is about 10m long, 4.5m diameter
• ATV has 32 thrusters, 4 large and 28 smaller
• Ends ISS docking approach at just 7 cm per second relative velocity!
• A London bus would fit, more or less, into the volume of the ATV
• Mission phases: launch, separation, phasing to ISS, RV & docking, attached phase, undocking & departure, re-entry