A Comic Book, A Lump Of Cheese And Thee

Gus Grissom took a packet of dimes. Alan Shephard took his seven-iron.

When Dutch astronaut Andre Kuipers launched for the International Space Station Monday, he took with him a comic book and a lump of cheese. Specifically, a lump of "mature" Dutch cheese (phew!) and a sci-fi comic.

"We are good friends," Kuipers told reporters at the cosmodrome in Baikonur, Kazakhstan, speaking alongside US astronaut Michael Fincke and Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (all pictured above). All three were in pre-launch quarantine, getting ready for Monday's mission. "It's like going camping with two friends in a small tent."

Fincke and Padalka will remain aboard the ISS for at least six months after their Soyuz capsule docks with the station Wednesday. Kuipers, along with astronaut Michael Foale and cosmonaut Alex Kaleri, will return to Earth April 30th.

Kuipers was a little embarrased Saturday when he became the star of the impromptu news conference at Baikonur. He was peppered with question from a mostly-Dutch media crowd.

"I think it is not doing justice to the Russians and to the Americans,"  said Kuipers's girlfriend Helen Conijn, "yet they send up people every six months and it is the first Dutch flight since 1985. For the Dutch it's a special thing."

FMI: www.spaceflight.nasa.gov/station