Circle Image

Frank De Winne

Belgian - (ESA)

Retired

Date of Birth: April 25, 1961
Age: 63


Frank, Viscount De Winne (born 25 April 1961, in Ledeberg, Belgium) is a Belgian Air Component officer and an ESA astronaut. He is Belgium's second person in space (after Dirk Frimout). He was the first ESA astronaut to command a space mission when he served as commander of ISS Expedition 21. ESA astronaut de Winne serves currently as Head of the European Astronaut Centre of the European Space Agency in Cologne/Germany (Köln).

Soyuz-U | Soyuz TM-34

Russian Federal Space Agency (ROSCOSMOS) | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
April 25, 2002, 6:26 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TM-34 was a visiting mission to ISS, which carried 3 cosmonauts and astronauts. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko alongside Flight Engineer, ESA astronaut Roberto Vittori and Flight Engineer/Spaceflight Participant Mark Shuttleworth launched aboard the Soyuz spacecraft on April 25, 2002, 06:26:35 UTC. They docked with the station two days later. During their stay there, crew assisted Expedition 4 members in station work. Soyuz TM-34 crew returned aboard Soyuz TM-33, landing safely back on Earth on May 5, 2002, 03:51:53 UTC.

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-1

Progress Rocket Space Center | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Oct. 30, 2002, 3:11 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TMA-1 covers Expedition 5 and 6 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Sergei Zalyotin alongside Flight Engineers, Frank De Winne (ESA) & Yury Lonchakov (RSA) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. The landing crew on TMA-1 are Commander Nikolai Budarin (RSA) and Flight Engineers Kenneth Bowersox (ESA), Donald Pettit (NASA). It landed on May 4, 2003, 02:04:25 UTC

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

Soyuz-FG | Soyuz TMA-15

Progress Rocket Space Center | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
May 27, 2009, 10:34 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TMA-15 begins Expedition 20 by carrying 3 astronauts and cosmonauts to the International Space Station. Russian Commander, cosmonaut Roman Romanenko alongside Flight Engineers, Frank De Winne (ESA) & Robert Thirsk (CSA) will launch aboard the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and then rendezvous with the station. It landed on December 1, 2009, 07:17 UTC

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

Director General: Josef Aschbacher

The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,000 employees. ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.


Falcon 9
Success
10 hours, 37 minutes ago
Starlink Group 12-8
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Falcon 9
Success
3 days, 21 hours ago
Starlink Group 12-18
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

A batch of 21 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Long March 8A
Success
4 days, 7 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 02 (Demo Flight)
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

Demonstration flight of the Long March 8A rocket with upgraded first stage and boosters engines, and a new larger liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen secon…


Falcon 9
Success
4 days, 14 hours ago
Starlink Group 11-10
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.


Electron
Success
6 days, 20 hours ago
IoT 4 You and Me (Kinéis 16-20)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1A - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Fourth batch of five satellites for the French Kinéis IoT constellation designed to operate with 25 nanosatellites of 30 kg each.