Tim Peake to ISS

20 May 2013 - ESA's Director General, Jean-Jacques Dordain, announced today that the ISS Multilateral Crew Operations Panel has decided on Friday, 17 May to accept his proposal to fly astronaut Timothy Peake to the International Space Station in 2015. "When we recruited the six new ESA astronauts in May 2009, I made a promise to secure flight opportunities for all of them. Thanks to the decisions of the Member States at the Ministerial Council last November, we will be able to fulfil our commitment to fly all six newly selected astronauts before the end of 2017. The first three astronauts already had their missions assigned. Today I am very happy to announce the assignment of Timothy Peake for a mission to the International Space Station. The two remaining astronauts, Andreas Mogensen and Thomas Pesquet, will be assigned before mid-2015 for flights at the latest in 2017." Timothy Peake will join the crew of Expedition 46/47 for six months in 2015. He will be the first British citizen to live and work on the Space Station and it will be the eighth long-duration mission for an ESA astronaut.