Lodewijk van den Berg

Who is Lodewijk van den Berg?

Lodewijk van den Berg is a Dutch American chemical engineer, specializing in crystal growth, who flew on a 1985 Space Shuttle Challenger mission as a Payload Specialist.

He was the first Dutch-born astronaut, a fact that is often ignored in the Netherlands because he was a naturalized American and no longer a Dutch citizen at the time of flight. He is married and has two children. As of 2005, he resides in Florida and works as a chief scientist at the Constellation Technology Corporation.