Here come the Swedes. (He's 49)

In the thick of a complicated series of tasks to rewire the International Space Station - hopefully without serious interruption to the resident crew aboard - will be Sweden's first astronaut, Christer Fuglesang.

He is a 49-year-old particle physicist who joined the European Space Agency (Esa) astronaut corps 14 years ago. "I can put this exact date [in my mind] when I decided to at least try to become an astronaut," Fuglesang said. "Esa were announcing that they were looking for astronauts. "It was kind of like a classified ad in the newspaper. A friend of mine found it and he told me, 'Hey, I've found a new job for you'. "And I thought he was joking - I didn't really have a clear picture of becoming an astronaut, but I wanted to go to space if I could. So I made a pretty quick decision, 'Ja, of course I'm going to apply'."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6138282.stm