Frank De Winne in outer space again

Frank De Winne will once again go into outer space. The European Space Agency (ESA) is sending the Belgian on a mission in May 2009 for 6 months to the International Space Station ISS.

In 2002 Frank De Winne went into outer space for the first time. He stayed on the ISS for a week. In 1992 Dirk Frimout was the first Belgian to go into space.

Frank De Winne turns 47 this year. He began his career with the Belgian air force.

On June 1, 2000 he joined the astronaut corps at ESA. Two years later, on October 30, 2002, he was flight engineer on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS.

In May 2009, Frank De Winne will fly together with Russian cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk on a Soyuz spacecraft to the ISS.

The arrival of Frank De Winne and his two crewmates will for the first time expand the station’s crew size to six. They will join Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, the Expedition 19 commander, and NASA astronauts Michael Barratt and Nicole Stott. By then, the Japanese Kibo laboratory will also be attached to the ISS.

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