Frank de Winne : training & bio

ESA astronaut Frank De Winne will be the first ever European commander of the International Space Station. He will command the ISS during the second half of his six-month mission named OasISS. After a successful career as a senior pilot in the Belgian air force De Winne was recruited to the ESA astronaut Corps in 2000 and has already worked on the ISS on the 9-day Odissea mission in 2002. During OasISS De Winne will not only be the first European ISS commander but he will also be instrumental in operating the robotic arms with which the Japanese HTV spacecraft will be attached to the ISS in September and its external payloads will be installed. Frank De Winne has trained extensively for his specific tasks at the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, at the Tsukuba Space Center in Tsukuba, Japan, at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, United States and the Gagarin cosmonaut centre in Star city, Russia.