In article , john-
says...
On 21 Apr 2004 22:34:09 GMT, Dave Fowler wrote:


Are the ESA astronauts trained up as full Soyuz commanders? I understood
they were only return commanders, trained to undock and land but not
rendevous and docking.


Excellent question. Can anybody follow up on this?


Actually, he is correct about this. They are return commanders only.

How long does full commander training take?

How soon (theoretically, political considerations aside) could an ESA
astro command a crew exchange flight, particularly an astro who already
has basic Soyuz training?

Before training could even start, Russia would have to change its laws
-- it's currently not legal for a non-Russian to command a Russian
spacecraft. (ISS is an exception, in that it's not totally Russian-
built and command exchanges are mandated by the international partners'
agreements.)

I doubt this would change anytime soon.

Doug