On 1^st of December the Soyuz TMA-15 reentry module landed safely in Kazakhstan, bringing the Belgian ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Frank De Winne, Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk back to Earth.

The landing concluded the six-month OasISS mission, ESA’s second long-duration mission to the International Space Station (ISS). Frank De Winne becomes the first European to take command of the largest human outpost ever in space. When De Winne, Romanenko and Thirsk arrived on the ISS in May 2009, they joined the three resident astronauts to form the first permanent crew of six, allowing more scientific experiments to carry out onboard.

During the six months on the ISS, De Winne was performing the robotic operations. Together with his crew, De Winne carried out a variety of scientific experiments. In ESA’s Protein Crystallisation Diagnostics Facility, protein crystal growth was studied for over three months. Good quality, stable crystals were returned to the scientific teams to explore how these proteins grow. De Winne and his crew carried out a variety of human physiology experiments, for instance to learn more about cardiovascular adaptations in space or salt retention in humans.

“ESA’s OasISS mission was a total success,” said Simonetta Di Pippo, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight, who attended the landing event at the Russian Mission Control Centre near Moscow.

Frank De Winne was born in 1961 in Ledenberg, Belgium. He is Belgium’s second man in space (after Dirk Frimout). De Winne is married and has three children from previous marriage.

Next in line to fly to the ISS is ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori, from Italy, who will participate a mission in July 2010.

Source: esa, bbc news, wikipedia

Popularity: 1% [?]