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First European Commander of the ISS

Posted by timothy on from the shift-of-power dept.

RobGoldsmith writes 'ESA astronaut Frank De Winne became the first European commander of the International Space Station this morning with the departure of Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka who had filled this role since April. De Winne is the first non-American and non-Russian to take on this role. Watch the videos and view images here.'

14 of 190 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Russia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Most of it is in Asia

  2. Re:Russia... by TheGreenNuke · · Score: 2, Informative

    But most of the population is in Europe.

  3. His bio by NoYob · · Score: 3, Informative
    Bio here

    I didn't check my tags above. Oh well. It's past my bed time....

    --
    It's NOT me! It's the meds! I'm on 1000mg of Fukitol.
  4. ESA NOT EU by andersh · · Score: 4, Informative

    The ESA is not a part of the European Union and includes member nations outside of the EU and even Europe! Norway and Switzerland are members of ESA but not the EU. And Canada is a member but is not a European country!

    The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states.

  5. Re:Russia... by Moldiver · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, on the continent of South America but *in* the EU. French Guiana is part of France and therefore part of the EU.

  6. Re:Let me be the first... by buchner.johannes · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are 23 official languages in the EU. And many more in Europe. They'll be offended if you exclude them ;-)

    --
    NB: The message above might reflect my opinion right now, but not necessarily tomorrow or next year.
  7. ...and Russian is one of them by Roger+W+Moore · · Score: 2, Informative

    There are 23 official languages in the EU. And many more in Europe [wikipedia.org].

    Interestingly the article lists Russian as one of those European languages so either this should be the second European commander or the first commander from the EU.

  8. Re:Civil Engineer by Seth024 · · Score: 2, Informative

    In Belgium, the civil engineering degree isn't what you think it is. It's more a general engineering degree with everyone choosing a specific major (chemical engineering, computer science, applied physics, elektro-mechanical engineering and "bouwkunde": the actual civil engineer...) His degree would be the equivalent of "Master of Science in Engineering: Telecommunications"

  9. Re:Russia... by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2, Informative

    By that logic, so is China, India, pretty much the whole Middle East, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia and so on.

    --
    "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  10. Capitalization by dingen · · Score: 2, Informative

    His name is Frank de Winne, without the capital D. The D is only capitalized when his first name isn't written. So it's commander De Winne, or commander Frank de Winne.

    Then again, I guess it's already impressive you guys put a space between "de" and "Winne".

    --
    Pretty good is actually pretty bad.
    1. Re:Capitalization by oliderid · · Score: 3, Informative

      Yes, when you see a little "d" it is usually used for noble title. It has been influenced by the French "etiquette".

      For the non-beneluxians. :-)

      "De" in Dutch means literally "the". for example: Jan De Boer (John the Farmer), Jacques De Ridder (Jacques the rider/the knight), etc. When you see names like Van Den Berg (it means from the hills), Jean-Claude Van Damme (Jean-Claude from Damme -> a Belgian town).

      There is no form of nobility in those names so you use capital letters.

      On the other hand: The King is in French "Albert de Belgique" or in Dutch "Albert van België").

  11. Two Different Ethnic Groups by andersh · · Score: 2, Informative

    Russians are NOT related to us Scandinavians in ANY way. Russians are Slavs, Scandinavians are Germanic people(s).

    I doubt you Americans think of Scandinavia as part of North America? Did you not understand I was a non-Russian, Scandinavian? It says so clearly at the end of my message.

    The last Czar did indeed have some Danish blood, that does not make the country, people or history Scandinavian. Unless you think the US is now part of Kenya due to Obama?

    1. Re:Two Different Ethnic Groups by dunkelfalke · · Score: 2, Informative

      That is not entirely correct. Russia was founded by and ruled by vikings (Rørik, who built the city of Holmgård - nowadays Great Novgorod - and started the first Russian king dynasty). His fellow vikings were the first ruling class and even today very common Russian first names have got scandinavian roots (like Oleg/Olga - Helge/Helga or Igor - Ingvar)

      --
      "It's such a fine line between stupid and clever" -- David St. Hubbins, Spinal Tap
  12. Re:No by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    He's the second Belgian in space since Tin-TIn

    Third actually, Dirk Frimout was the second.