N° 64-2004 - Paris, 10 December 2004

ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori to fly to the ISS on Italian Soyuz mission
ENEIDE

Roberto Vittori will be the next ESA astronaut to fly to the International
Space Station, on the 10-day Italian Soyuz mission, scheduled to be launched
on 15 April next year from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The
mission is called ENEIDE and takes its name from the epic tale written by
the Latin poet Virgil in the 1st century BC. This story tells of the journey
of Aeneas from Troy to Italy and the foundation of Rome.

Vittori is a member of ESA's European Astronaut Corps and also an active
Italian Air Force pilot. He is scheduled to take off on flight 10S to the
ISS as flight engineer on board the Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft alongside the
Soyuz Commander and Roskosmos cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev and NASA astronaut
John Phillips. The main objectives of the mission a for the ESA astronaut
to perform a full experimental programme of major scientific interest and
valuable international cooperation on board the ISS; to exchange the station
lifeboat, Soyuz TMA-5, for Soyuz TMA-6; and to exchange the current ISS
Expedition 10 crew (Leroy Chiao and Salizhan Sharipov) for the ISS
Expedition 11 crew (Krikalev and Phillips).

As flight engineer on both the ascent phase and the return journey, Vittori
will take an active role in piloting and docking the spacecraft. Seven
European astronauts have flown to and worked on the ISS so far though this
is the first time that a European astronaut will be on his
second mission to the ISS. From 25 April to 5 May 2002 Vittori took part in
the Marco Polo mission. This will also be the first time that four of the
five ISS partners, the ESA Member States known as the "European Partner",
Russia, the United States and Canada, have taken part in a Soyuz mission to
the ISS, since the backup astronaut for Roberto Vittori is Robert Thirsk
from the Canadian Space Agency (Canada is an ESA Cooperating State).

The Soyuz TMA-6 spacecraft will remain docked with the ISS for six months to
act as an emergency return vehicle for the ISS Expedition 11 crew. For
Vittori's return journey in Soyuz TMA-5, he will be accompanied by the
current ISS crew, Leroy Chiao, Expedition 10 Commander, and Salizhan
Sharipov, Expedition 10 Flight Engineer. Soyuz TMA-5 is the spacecraft which
carried the Expedition 10 crew to the ISS in October. Sergei Krikalev will
take over from Leroy Chiao as ISS Commander and John Phillips from Salizhan
Sharipov as ISS Flight Engineer.

ENEIDE, an ESA mission, is co-sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Defence
and the Lazio Region, with the support of Finmeccanica, FILAS and the Rome
Chamber of Commerce (CCIAA). Many of the experiments are being developed by
Italian researchers and built by Italian industry and research institutions.

"I am pleased to see this mission taking shape with such a great degree of
international involvement", said Daniel Sacotte, ESA's Director of Human
Spaceflight, Microgravity and Exploration Programmes, "ENEIDE, as with all
human spaceflight missions, will benefit many areas of life and further
expand the experience of the European Astronaut Corps. This will help us on
the road to further human exploration of our solar system".



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

Franca Morgia
ESA/ESRIN
Tel: +39.06.9418.0951
Fax: +39.06.9418.0952


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info