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Pedro Duque Duque, Aeronautical Engineer, is famous as the first astronaut of Spanish birth and nationality. He loves swimming, scuba diving and cycling which are the sports he usually enjoys in Xàbia, where he has established his second residence.

In 1986, he graduated from the E.T.S.I. Aeronautical School of the Polytechnical University of Madrid.

He has been trained at the Star City in Moscow (Russia) and in the USA. His first space mission was STS-95 aboard the Discovery Space Shuttle in 1998.

In 2003, Duque participated in another voyage, in which he was launched in the Soyuz TMA spacecraft, where he served as the flight engineer and visited the International Space Station during 10 days to execute the Cervantes Mission.

From November 2004 to October 2006 , he worked at the E.T.S.I. Aeronautical School of the Polytechnical University of Madrid as the Operations Manager of the Spanish USOC.

In 2006, he was appointed Managing Director of Deimos Imaging, S.L., the company which in 2009, placed the first Spanish Earth Observation satellite into orbit which facilitates improved use of soil in agriculture, progress in forest fire detection and control and monitors the health of the world's forests. In 2010, he became the Executive Chairman of this Company.

In October 2011, Duque returned to the European Space Agency, to resume his post as Astronaut and he currently leads the Flight Operations Office, with responsibilities over European activities in the International Space Station.