Amateur Radio Newsline reports that Frank De Winne, ON1DWN, is set to become the first European Space Agency astronaut to oversee the International Space Station.

De Winne is currently at Russia's cosmonaut training center outside of Moscow. He will leave there later this week and fly to neighboring Kazakhstan, where a Soyuz rocket is being prepared to carry him, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk, VA3CSA, to the orbiting space outpost. That launch is currently scheduled for May 27 .

The arrival of these three space adventurers which will bring the total number of crew on the ISS to six for the first time. For the first four months De Winne, who is from Belgium, will be a Flight Engineer as a member of the Expedition 20 Crew. With the next crew rotation ON1DWN will take over as Commander of Expedition 21 and will serve in that position until his return to Earth in November. This will mark the first time that someone other than a Russian or an American has held that post. More is on-line at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8037431.stm

Aboard the International Space Station Tuesday, the Expedition 19 crew prepared for its upcoming spacewalk and awaited the arrival of three additional crew members later this week. The space travelers also continued their regular science and maintenance activities.

Commander Gennady Padalka and Flight Engineer Michael Barratt performed height adjustments on their Russian Orlan spacesuits in preparation for their first spacewalk, slated for June 5. In addition, they checked the suits for leaks and proper valve operation, as well as configuring and checking out the suits' communication equipment.

Flight Engineers Roman Romanenko, Frank De Winne and Robert Thirsk of the 20th International Space Station crew will launch in their Soyuz TMA-15 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:34 a.m. EDT Wednesday to begin a six-month stay in space.

Expedition 20 will mark the start of six-person crew operations aboard the International Space Station. All five of the international partner agencies - NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) - will be represented on orbit for the first time.

05-26-2009 20:27 UTC - PD4U - Netherlands - JO22xe

05-26-2009 20:23 UTC - PD4U - Netherlands - JO22xe