{"id":15521,"date":"2016-05-18T23:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-05-18T15:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/first-german-commander-among-astronauts-named-for-station-flights-2\/"},"modified":"2016-05-18T23:00:37","modified_gmt":"2016-05-18T15:00:37","slug":"first-german-commander-among-astronauts-named-for-station-flights-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/first-german-commander-among-astronauts-named-for-station-flights-2\/","title":{"rendered":"First German commander among astronauts named for station flights"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"German
German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulates astronaut Alexander Gerst on his selection as commander of the International Space Station\u2019s Expedition 58 crew. Credit: ESA\/Grothues<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

International Space Station managers have named crew members to future expeditions to the research lab in 2017 and 2018, including the first German commander of a space mission and Canada\u2019s third astronaut to fly a long-duration residency on the complex.<\/p>\n

Alexander Gerst, a 40-year-old German volcanologist, will launch to the space station on a Russian Soyuz rocket in May 2018 as part of the six-month Expedition 56\/57 mission. He will take over command of the space station in September to lead the Expedition 57 crew, the European Space Agency announced Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Gerst spent 165 days in orbit on the space station in 2014. The 2018 mission will be his second spaceflight.<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and ESA chief Jan Woerner made the announcement Wednesday at the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am humbled by receiving the honor to command the International Space Station,\u201d Gerst said in a statement. \u201cThis international sign of trust reflects ESA\u2019s reliability as a cooperation partner, and was made possible by the fantastic work of my European colleagues on their previous missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before his selection as an ESA astronaut in 2009, Gerst earned a diploma in geophysics from the University of Karlsruhe in Germany and a master\u2019s degree in Earth sciences from the Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand. He graduated with a Doctorate in Natural Sciences at the Institute of Geophysics of the University of Hamburg, Germany, in 2009.<\/p>\n

Gerst\u2019s research focused on the dynamics of volcanic eruptions, according to his official ESA biography.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am delighted by the prospect of continuing the scientific work that has been conducted on the ISS for many years,\u201d Gerst said. \u201cI am particularly looking forward to contributing to one of humanity\u2019s greatest exploration adventures: discovering new horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerst is ESA\u2019s second space station commander. His stint as head of the orbiting lab\u2019s crew will come nine years after European astronaut Frank De Winne of Belgium commanded the Expedition 21 crew.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Space Agency announced Monday its third long-duration space station crew member.<\/p>\n

\"Canadian
Canadian astronaut David Saint-Jacques undergoes spacewalk training at NASA\u2019s Johnson Space Center in Houston. Credit: CSA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

David Saint-Jacques, a Quebec native, is assigned to the space station\u2019s Expedition 58\/59 crew launching on a Russian Soyuz rocket in November 2018. It will be Saint-Jacques\u2019s first space mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cDuring his time in space, the astronaut will conduct a series of scientific experiments, robotics tasks and technology demonstrations, the details of which will be revealed later this year,\u201d the Canadian Space Agency said in a press release.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am humbled to represent Canada on this mission and promise to give it my very best,\u201d Saint-Jacques said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Saint-Jacques, 46, holds a Ph.D. in astrophysics from Britain\u2019s Cambridge University and earned a medical degree in 2005 from Universit\u00e9 Laval in Quebec City, Canada. He was a medical doctor in a remote Inuit community on Hudson Bay before his selection as a Canadian astronaut in 2009.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, NASA announced two U.S. crew members scheduled to fly to the space station in 2017.<\/p>\n

Scott Tingle, a U.S. Navy captain and member of NASA\u2019s 2009 astronaut class making his first spaceflight, will fly to the space station with rookie Russian cosmonaut Ivan Vagner and veteran Russian Soyuz commander Alexander Skvortsov, a Russian Air Force fighter pilot who will make his third trip to the space station. Tingle, Vagner and Skvortsov will launch on the six-month Expedition 53\/54 mission in September 2017 on a Soyuz booster.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Massachusetts, Tingle has accumulated more than 4,000 flight hours, logged 700 carrier landings and flown 54 combat missions in the Navy. He holds bachelor\u2019s and master\u2019s degrees in mechanical engineering, with a specialty in fluid mechanics and propulsion, according to NASA.<\/p>\n

Shuttle veteran Randy Bresnik will join Russian crewmate Sergey Ryazansky and first-time Japanese flight engineer Norishige Kanai on the Expedition 54\/55 mission launching on a Soyuz rocket in November 2017.<\/p>\n

Hailing from Santa Monica, California, Bresnik is a retired colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps who flew F\/A-18 jets before his selection as a NASA astronaut in 2004. Bresnik, 48, flew aboard the shuttle Atlantis in 2009 on an 11-day assembly and resupply mission to the space station.<\/p>\n

He graduated from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1989 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in mathematics, and earned a master\u2019s degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in 2002.<\/p>\n

Ryazansky, a 41-year-old biochemist, is slated to make his second trip to orbit.<\/p>\n

NASA and Russian crew members slated to fly with Gerst and Saint-Jacques have not been officially named.<\/p>\n

\"Astronaut
Astronaut Randy Bresnik aboard the shuttle Atlantis in 2009. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Upcoming space station expeditions with fully-named crews are listed below:<\/p>\n

Expedition 48\/49 launching in June 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Anatoly Ivanishin (Russia \u2014 2nd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
  • Kate Rubins (U.S. \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n
  • Takuya Onishi (Japan \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Expedition 49\/50 launching in September 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    • Shane Kimbrough (U.S. \u2014 2nd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
    • Andrey Borisenko (Russia \u2014 2nd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
    • Sergey Ryzhikov (Russia \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

      Expedition 50\/51 launching in November 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

        \n
      • Peggy Whitson (U.S. \u2014 3rd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
      • Oleg Novitskiy (Russia \u2014 2nd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
      • Thomas Pesquet (ESA\/France \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

        Expedition 51\/52 launching in March 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \n
        • Alexander Misurkin (Russia \u2014 2nd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
        • Nikolai Tikhonov (Russia \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n
        • Mark Vande Hei (U.S. \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Expedition 52\/53 launching in May 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

            \n
          • Fyodor Yurchikhin (Russia \u2014 5th spaceflight)<\/li>\n
          • Jack Fischer (U.S. \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n
          • Paolo Nespoli (ESA\/Italy \u2014 3rd spaceflight)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

            Expedition 53\/54 launching in September 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

              \n
            • Alexander Skvortsov (Russia \u2014 3rd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
            • Ivan Vagner (Russia \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n
            • Scott Tingle (U.S. \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

              Expedition 54\/55 launching in November 2017<\/strong><\/p>\n

                \n
              • Sergey Ryazansky (Russia \u2014 2nd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
              • Randy Bresnik (U.S. \u2014 2nd spaceflight)<\/li>\n
              • Norishige Kanai (Japan \u2014 1st spaceflight)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

                Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

                Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulates astronaut Alexander Gerst on his selection as commander of the International Space Station\u2019s Expedition 58 crew. Credit: ESA\/Grothues International Space Station managers have named crew members to future expeditions to the research lab in 2017 and 2018, including the first German commander of a space mission and Canada\u2019s third astronaut […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2799,2362,584,880,1949,831,3101,3023],"class_list":["post-15521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-alexander-gerst","tag-alexander-skvortsov","tag-canada","tag-canadian-space-agency","tag-david-saint-jacques","tag-european-space-agency","tag-expedition-53","tag-expedition-54"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15521"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15521\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}