Jelle Bouman received a very special surprise this summer when he came to work: he was allowed to go into space. The news has now sunk in, but it still remains unbelievable for him.
He won the prize after being voted ‘best pizza delivery person in the Netherlands’. Of six thousand delivery people, he turned out to be the very best. People left reviews about him, putting him among the final 25 pizza deliverers with a chance to win the prize. He then had to record a video and explain why he was the best. So then he was chosen. “That’s really crazy to think about and also really cool.”
He knew nothing before the announcement. His boss and family already knew and had made a plan to surprise him. When he came to work in the summer, everything suddenly looked different. His boss was ready in an astronaut suit to tell him the good news. “At first I couldn’t believe it,” Jelle laughs, before coming to the conclusion that it was really true.
As a child, Bouman already had a fascination with space, so it could hardly have been better that the 18-year-old resident of Meppel was chosen. But as a child he never dreamed of going into space. “It’s not like getting on a plane. So I don’t know if I can call it a dream, but I think it’s very interesting.”
The time will come in 2025, when he will actually go into space. Before then, he will probably have to do some training to get used to being weightless. “From what I know, I will go into a G-force simulator. Then it will be checked whether I am fit enough.”