MOSCOW, April 27 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos) and European Space Agency (ESA) signed an agreement on ESA's astronaut Thomas Reiter's flight to the International Space Station (ISS) in July 2005. Roskosmos announced the deal in its Web-site news release on Wednesday.
"The deal is part of a set of bilateral relations between Roskosmos and ESA," the news release states.
In addition, a Roskosmos working group led by Manned Program Department Chief Alexei Krasnov has completed its work with ESA on crafting paperwork relevant to Thomas Reiter's flight to the ISS. Shaping the scientific and technical programs of the mission was a priority.
"ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter is to fly to the orbiter in July 2005 to become the first ESA astronaut to work on board the ISS as part of an international crew," Krasnov said, noting that Reiter would start his tour of duty with the 11th mission's crew and complete it with the 12th one.
Under the agreement, the ESA astronaut, being part of the main crew of the ISS, will fulfil both the scientific program and the duties to keep the orbiter operating smoothly.
