PARIS, April 28 (RIA Novosti, Andrey Nizamutdinov) - German astronaut Thomas Reiter will soon join the International Space Station crew to become the first European Space Agency's envoy to work with a long-term mission on board the ISS, reports the ESA headquarters.
Thomas Reiter is to be launched to the ISS this July so as to return to the Earth next February.
The initial plan to send a Russian cosmonaut on this mission was changed after the signing of a treaty providing for a space flight by a German astronaut whose duties, among standard ones, are to carry out research under ESA program.
It is the second long-term orbital flight for the German astronaut who worked onboard the Mir station ten years ago under the cooperation program between the European and Russian Space Agencies.
