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Paris, 5 December 2002
Press Release
Nø 75-2002

Three European astronauts to fly to the 
  International Space Station in 2003
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Next year three more European astronauts are scheduled to fly to the
International Space Station (ISS). Since the Station was first 
permanently manned in October 2000, five Europeans have already done 
so, in cooperation with both the US and Russian space agencies.

The next flight with a crew including a member of the ESA astronaut 
corps is scheduled for April, when the Spaniard Pedro Duque will fly 
out on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for a 10-day mission to the Station.  
In July Sweden's Christer Fuglesang will board a US Space Shuttle for 
mission STS-116, and in October André Kuipers, from the Netherlands, 
will leave on a Soyuz for a 10-day mission to the Station.

The two European astronauts taking part in the Soyuz missions, as 
flight engineers, will conduct comprehensive scientific research 
programmes involving experiments which have been submitted by European 
scientists in response to ESA 'Announcements of Opportunity'.  These 
missions will replace the Soyuz spacecraft which has been docked at 
the Station for 6 months, serving as the main emergency rescue craft 
for the resident crew.

The Space Shuttle mission (STS-116, or ISS assembly flight 12A.1) on 
which Christer Fuglesang is to fly will add new segments to the 
Station's truss, having taken the Expedition 8 crew out to the 
Station, and then return the three astronauts on Expedition 7 to 
Earth. Christer  Fuglesang will carry out three Extra-Vehicular 
Activities (EVAs) to attach new hardware to the space Station. 
Although commonly called 'spacewalks', EVAs are highly demanding - far 
from being just a walk in space.

The missions planned will serve European space research in two ways:
enabling European scientists to make use of the research facilities on 
the Station, and preparing European astronauts for their future role 
on the ISS once the European space laboratory Columbus has been 
attached, in 2004.

"These missions reflect the successful continuation of the close
cooperation with our Russian and US partners," said ESA Director of 
Human Space Flight, Jörg Feustel-Büechl, "and continue to advance 
European scientific research on board the International Space Station  
before the arrival of our own Columbus laboratory in 2004".

ESA also plans to use satellite video and 3-D display technology to 
enable people on Earth, young people in particular, to share in the 
experience of spaceflight more fully. Educational communication 
experiments will be carried out as part of the ESA education 
programme.

Pedro Duque was born in Madrid in 1963 and holds a degree in 
aeronautical engineering. In 1992 he joined the ESA astronaut corps. 
In August 1993, Pedro Duque was trained in Star City in Russia in 
order to participate as the prime Crew Interface Coordinator for the 
joint ESA-Russian Euromir 94 mission that took place from 3 October to 
4 November 1994, Later on, Pedro Duque was selected and trained as the 
alternate payload specialist for the STS-78 Microgravity Spacelab 
Mission in 1996, and in 1998 he flew as mission specialist on Space 
Shuttle Discovery with US veteran astronaut John Glenn. On that 
mission, Pedro Duque was responsible for the five ESA scientific 
facilities on board and for the extensive computer system used on the 
Shuttle. He was one of three astronauts awarded the Prince of Asturias 
Prize for International Cooperation in 1999.

Christer Fuglesang was born in Stockholm in 1957 and holds a Ph.D. in
particle physics.  In 1992 he was selected and trained for the 
European astronaut corps.  In 1995 Christer Fuglesang was selected as 
a member of Crew 2 for the Euromir 95 mission.  He was later seconded 
by ESA to NASA's Johnson Space Center as Prime Increment Support 
Astronaut for the Expedition 2 Crew.  STS-116 will be his first space 
mission.

André Kuipers was born in Amsterdam in 1958 and holds a medical 
doctor's degree.  He has carried out substantial space and 
flight-related physiological research. Since 1991 he has been 
responsible for the coordination and execution of ESA's extensive 
physiological experiments for space missions.  He has also been 
responsible for coordination of life science experiments for ESA's 
parabolic flight campaigns.  Since 1999 André Kuipers has been a 
member of the European astronaut corps. This will be his first space 
mission.


For further information, please contact: 
Franco Bonacina
ESA Media Relations Service 
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax : +33(0)1.53.69.7690

More information on ESA astronauts at:
http://www.esa.int/export/esaHS/eurastronauts.html

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