Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka, a colonel in the Russian Air Force, will command the Expedition 19 and 20 missions and also serve as Soyuz commander. He previously served as commander of Expedition 9 in 2004. During Padalka's first stay at the International Space Station, he performed four spacewalks.
› Biography →Astronaut Michael Barratt will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 19 and 20. He served as lead crew surgeon for the first Expedition crew to the station from July 1998 until he was selected as an astronaut candidate.
› Biography →Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Koichi Wakata flew to the station on STS-119 and served as flight engineer for Expeditions 18, 19 and 20. Wakata was the first resident station crew member from JAXA. He returned to Earth on STS-127.
› Biography →Astronaut Tim Kopra will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 20. He served as a backup crew member for Expeditions 16 and 17. This will be his first spaceflight.
› Biography →Cosmonaut Roman Romanenko will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 20 and 21. He was selected as a test-cosmonaut candidate of the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center Cosmonaut Office in December 1997. In November 1999, he was qualified as a test cosmonaut.
› Biography →European Space Agency astronaut Frank De Winne will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 20 and commander for Expedition 21. De Winne spent nine days aboard the station in 2002 as a member of the Odissea mission.
› Biography →Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 20 and 21. In 1996, Dr. Thirsk flew as a payload specialist astronaut aboard space shuttle mission STS-78, the Life and Microgravity Spacelab mission.
› Biography →Astronaut Nicole Stott will serve as a flight engineer for Expeditions 20 and 21 after launching on STS-128. In April 2006 she was a crew member on the NEEMO 9 mission where she lived and worked with a 6-person crew for 18 days on the Aquarius undersea research habitat.
› Biography →View this interactive about the International Space Station's first six-person crew.
Visit the Expedition 20 photo gallery.
Robert Thirsk's expedition to the International Space Station represents a milestone for the Canadian Space Agency since it will be the first time a Canadian takes part in a long duration mission.
› View mission page →De Winne’s OasISS mission to the International Space Station will see him become Europe's first station commander in October 2009.
› View mission page →Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata is serving aboard the International Space Station as the first Expedition crew member from Japan.
› View site →The Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, is a key International Space Station partner.
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