Ivan Bella (born 21 May 1964) is a

Slovak Air Force The Slovak Air Force, known since 2002 as the Air Force of the Armed Forces of the Slovak Republic ( sk, Vzdušné sily Ozbrojených síl Slovenskej republiky), is the aviation and air defense branch of the Slovak Armed Forces. Operating 23 airc ...

officer who became the first Slovak citizen to fly in space. He participated in an eight-day joint Russian-French-Slovak mission to the

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

space station in 1999.

Education and military career

Bella graduated from military school in 1983 and subsequently graduated from

Košice Košice ( , ; german: Kaschau ; hu, Kassa ; pl, Коszyce) is the largest city in eastern Slovakia. It is situated on the river Hornád at the eastern reaches of the Slovak Ore Mountains, near the border with Hungary. With a population of a ...

Military Academy in 1987. He rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Slovak Republic Army as a pilot at the 33rd Air Force Base in

Malacky Malacky ( German: ''Malatzka'', Hungarian: ''Malacka'') is a town and municipality in western Slovakia around north from capital Bratislava. From the second half of the 10th century until 1918, it was part of the Kingdom of Hungary. It is one o ...

, Slovakia.

Spaceflight

Bella began training as a ''research cosmonaut'' on 25 March 1998. He completed his training successfully at the

Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre The Yuri A. Gagarin State Scientific Research-and-Testing Cosmonaut Training Center (GCTC; Russian: Центр подготовки космонавтов имени Ю. А. Гагарина) is a Russian training facility responsible for train ...

in August of the same year. Bella launched along with mission commander Viktor Afanasyev and flight engineer

Jean-Pierre Haigneré Jean-Pierre Haigneré (born 19 May 1948) is a French Air Force officer and a former CNES spationaut. Jean-Pierre Haigneré was born in Paris, France, and joined the French Air Force, where he trained as a test pilot. He flew on two missions ...

on the

Soyuz TM-29 Soyuz TM-29 was a Russian Soyuz spaceflight launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome aboard a Soyuz 11A511U rocket. It docked with Mir on February 22 at 05:36 GMT with cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev of Russia, Jean-Pierre Haigneré of France, and Iv ...

mission on 20 February 1999. TM-29 arrived at Mir on 22 February. While on board the station Bella performed various scientific experiments as well as experiments involving the possibility of survival of

Japanese quail The Japanese quail (''Coturnix japonica''), also known as the coturnix quail, is a species of Old World quail found in East Asia. First considered a subspecies of the common quail, it is now considered as a separate species. The Japanese quail ...

s during long flights. Bella spent just over a week in space and returned to earth on 28 February aboard

Soyuz TM-28 TM-28 was a Soyuz mission to the Mir space station. Crew Mission Accomplishments *Docked with Mir. *Baturin became the first Russian politician in space. *Padalka and Avdeyev performed an EVA on 15.09.1998 (30 m) into the module Spektr (new ...

along with fellow crew member

Gennady Padalka Gennady Ivanovich Padalka (russian: Гeннадий Иванович Падалка; born 21 June 1958 in Krasnodar, Soviet Union) is a Russian Air Force officer and a Roscosmos cosmonaut. Padalka currently holds the world record for the most ...

Diplomatic career

In 2004, Bella was appointed to serve as a

military attaché A military attaché is a military expert who is attached to a diplomatic mission, often an embassy. This type of attaché post is normally filled by a high-ranking military officer, who retains a commission while serving with an embassy. Opport ...

for Slovakia in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia.

References

External links

Spacefacts biography of Ivan Bella
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bella, Ivan 1964 births Living people Slovak cosmonauts People from Brezno Mir crew members