ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter reports for duty onboard the ISS

N° 25-2006 - Paris, 6 July 2006


ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter reports for duty onboard the ISS


Thanks to the resumption of Space Shuttle flights, the permanent crew of the
International Space Station is now back up to three. Joining Russian
commander Pavel Vinogradov and NASA flight engineer Jeffrey Williams onboard
is ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter.

Less than two days after its Tuesday evening lift-off from NASA's Kennedy
Space Center at Florida's Cape Canaveral, the Space Shuttle Discovery docked
with the International Space Station this afternoon at 16:52 CEST (14:52
UTC). The Shuttle's seven crew members were welcomed by theStation's
permanent crew of two who have been onboard since March.

Shortly after boarding, Thomas Reiter recovered his landing seat liner
(tailor-made for his body shape) and installed it on the Soyuz TMA-8
spacecraft. Launched back in March, this Russian ferry ship is currently
docked to the ISS to serve as an emergency 'lifeboat' for the permanent crew
(and also to return Vinogradov and Williams in September).

This seat liner transfer marked the arrival of Thomas Reiter as the third
member of the ISS permanent crew and the return to a crew of three for the
first time since May 2003.

Thomas Reiter will now spend five to seven months onboard as second flight
engineer. He is the first non-US, non-Russian astronaut to be given such an
assignment. In the future, he will be
succeeded by more ESA, Japanese or Canadian astronauts. As flight engineer,
he will carry out numerous tasks onboard the Station to operate and maintain
equipment in its US and Russian segments. He had been in training for these
ISS equipment activities since 2001.

His ISS system responsibilities will include the Russian docking mechanism,
guidance and control, environmental control and life support systems, power
control and communications, crew health & safety and extra-vehicular
activities. He is due to become the first ESA astronaut to perform a
spacewalk from the Station. In addition, he will operate research
facilities onboard to support the ongoing international programme of
scientific experimentation.

Among his science activities, he will conduct a series of experiments
devised by European scientists for ESA's Astrolab mission. These will
include investigations in the field of human physiology and psychology,
microbiology, plasma physics and radiation dosimetry. He will also perform
technology demonstrations and conduct industrial and educational experiments
for universities and primary/secondary schools.

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


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.nl