ISS Flight Director,
Analog Astronaut, Speaker
© OeWF/F. Voggeneder
Meet João Lousada, award-winning space expert, leadership speaker and adventure-seeker!
As Flight director Lousada is responsible for operations and the crew’s safety at the Columbus laboratory of the International Space Station (ISS). As a commander and analog astronaut for the Austrian Space Forum he prepares for future human and robotic Mars exploration missions.
Join the adventure, get in touch!
Space Expert & Analog Astronaut.
Stars as far as the eye can see – it was the sight of the night sky over Bouçã, his grandparents' village in northern Portugal, that first sparked João Lousada's dream of space travel and astronauts. After leaving school, João Lousada followed his ambitions, first in Lisbon and later to Spain and Canada to study aerospace engineering. An internship at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) gave him his first practical insight into the research and development activities of a national space programme. As flight director for the Columbus module of the ISS and as an analog astronaut for the Austrian Space Forum, João Lousada has turned his dream into a career.
