RGNIITsPK picture

Frank DE WINNE

Flight Engineer-1 of the Soyuz TMA-1 Spacecraft
ESA Astronaut
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Belgian Air Force

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: April 25, 1961, Ghent (Belgium).

EDUCATION: Frank De Winne graduated from the Royal School of Cadets in 1979.
He received a Masters degree in telecommunications and civil engineering from the Royal Military Academy, Brussels, in 1984.
In 1992, he graduated with honours diploma from the Empire Test Pilots School, England, where he was awarded the McKenna Trophy.

FAMILY STATUS: married.
Wife: Hilde Delange, born in 1962.
Son: Tom De Winne, born in 1987.
Daughter: Nelle De Winne, born in 1989.
Son: Kun De Winne, born in 1994.

AWARDS AND RANKS: First non-American pilot who received the Joe Bill Dryden Semper Viper Award, in 1997, for demonstration of exceptional skills during a flight (1997); the Dutch Queen honour for shown leadership during Allied Force operations (1999).

HOBBIES: Football, computers, gastronomy.

WORK EXPERIENCE: From 1986 to 1992 Frank de Winne was a pilot on Mirage V aircraft, took part in the development of the Mirage V aircraft upgrading program.
From December 1992 to 1995 he worked in the Test and Evaluation branch of the Belgian Air Force. As a test pilot, he was engaged in the CARAPACE program (an electronic warfare program) at Eglin Air Force Base, USA, and a Self-Protection Program for the C-130 aircraft.
From January 1994 to April 1995, Frank De Winne was responsible for the flight safety program of the 1st Fighter Wing at Beauvechain, Belgium.
From April 1995 to June 1996, as a senior test pilot in the European Participating Air Forces (EPAF), he was detached to Edwards Air Force Base, California, USA, where he participated in the aircraft upgrading program, focussing on radar testing.
From 1996 to August 1998 he was a senior test pilot in the Belgian Air Force, responsible for all test programs and pilot-vehicle interfaces for the advanced flight vehicles.
From August 1998 to January 2002, Frank De Winne was the Commander of the 349th Squadron at Kleine Brogel Airbase, Belgium. Frank De Winne has logged more than 2300 hours on aircraft of different types, among which are: F-16, Tornado, Jaguar, Mirage.
In January 2000 he was selected as an astronaut by the European Space Agency and joined the European Astronaut Corps.
Since August 2001 he has been passing training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center.
On December 10, 2001 he began training for a space flight as the prime crew flight engineer of the Soyuz TM, Soyuz TMA transport spacecraft, 4th visiting crew under the ISS program, together with crew commander Sergei Zaletin and since October 1, 2002 he has been passing training with Yury Lonchakov too.

October 2002.
Based on materials from Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center
and ESA