European prepares to command ISS

By Irene Klotz
Science reporter

Franck de Winne (Nasa)
Franck de Winne (l) will take over command in August

Next week, European astronaut Frank De Winne will leave Russia's cosmonaut training centre outside of Moscow and fly to neighboring Kazakhstan, where a Soyuz rocket is being prepared to carry him and two crewmates to the International Space Station.

They will be the 20th crew to staff the station, but this time the current residents aren't coming right home.

They'll all live together, six in space, finally fulfilling a plan for full-time science operations aboard the nearly complete orbital outpost.

After four months in orbit, De Winne, who is scheduled for launch on 27 May, will take over as commander, becoming the first European in charge of a crew in orbit.

"A big part of the mission is to step up to the six-person crew," De Winne said in an interview. "We think we're up to the task."

De Winne will be flying to the station with Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian astronaut Robert Thirsk.

They will join commander Gennady Padalka, Nasa astronaut Michael Barratt and Japan's Koichi Wakata.

When Padalka leaves in August, De Winne, 48, a former pilot and squadron leader in the Belgian Air Force, steps into the command post.

He has made one previous spaceflight, a nine-day research mission aboard the station in 2002. De Winne also served as the backup to European astronaut Leopold Eyharts, who lived aboard the station last year to oversee the setup of Europe's Columbus laboratory.

Extensive training

De Winne has received extensive training for his new job, including work in conflict resolution.

"As commander of the space station your biggest job is to keep the crew in a good mood and to make sure the crew is comfortable and well-rested and can do the job to the best of their abilities," he said.

"One of the ways to do that is to make sure that there are no conflicts amongst the crewmembers or between the crew and the ground because then people are thinking about what worries them and not the job that they have to do," De Winne said.

"We have talks with psychologists and specialists about this topic. This is an integral part of this training," he added.



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