Frank De Winne training in Japan
Format 16:9
This is an overview of the Belgian ESA astronaut Frank De Winnes training with the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, in Tsukuba. Frank is currently scheduled to fly to the ISS in May 2009, along with the Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk and the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Lonchakov. The video features interviews in Tsukuba with Frank De Winne, the Dutch ESA astronaut André Kuipers (wholl be acting as his backup) and Robert Thirsk, plus coverage of their training in Japan. For more info on this subject please check the script that is online as a PDF file under : http://television.esa.int/photos/EbS61802.pdf
A WMV preview clip is online under : http://esatv-movies.e-vision.nl/videos/mplo/de_winne_169_TV_20-02-09_wmplow.wmv
More backgroud information can be found on: http://www.esa.int/esaHS/SEMHVGXPXPF_astronauts_mg_1.html

Frank De Winne Training in Japan
February 2009
A-Roll
10:00:36 (GVs ext. JAXA building, Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency, GVs Frank De Winne in gym)
A Belgian astronaut from the European Space Agency has been training with the Japanese Space Agency, JAXA, in readiness for a six-month stay onboard the International Space Station.
Frank De Winne, who is set to become the first European commander of the ISS, has spent two weeks in Tsukuba, Japan preparing for the challenges ahead.
10:01:00 Soundbite from Frank De Winne, ESA Astronaut:
""The training here in Tsukuba is going very well. The people are highly professional, and we learn a lot about the JEM ñ the Japanese Experimental Module ñ about the HTV, the cargo module of the Japanese that will arrive during our increment, and also all of the robotics tasks that we as a crew will have to execute.""
10:01:15 (GVs Frank de Winne and Robert Thirsk training; GVs Robert Thirsk and André Kuipers in gym)
Frank has been a member of the European Astronaut Corps fo