Personal data 
Born in Ghent, Belgium, 25 April 1961, Frank is married and has three 
children. He enjoys football, small PC applications and gastronomy.  
 
Education 
Frank De Winne graduated from the Royal School of Cadets, Lier, in 1979. 
He received a Masters degree in telecommunications and civil engineering 
from the Royal Military Academy, Brussels, in 1984. He was awarded the 
AIA Prize for the best thesis. In 1991, he completed the Staff Course at 
the Defence College, in Brussels gaining the highest distinction. In 
1992, he graduated from the Empire Test Pilots School (ETPS) in Boscombe 
Down, England, where he was awarded the McKenna Trophy.  

Organisations 
Chairman of the Belgian Armed Forces Flying Personnel Association. 

Special honours 
First non-American pilot to receive the Joe Bill Dryden Semper Viper 
Award, in 1997, for demonstrating exceptional skills during a flight. 
Appointed "Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau" by the Dutch Queen for 
shown leadership during operation Allied Force (July 1999).  

Experience 
After completing his pilot training with the Belgian Air Force, in 1986, 
Frank De Winne was an operational pilot on Mirage V aircraft. Detached to 
the Company SAGEM in Paris in 1989, he then worked in the Mirage Safety 
Improvement Programme where he was responsible for the preparation of the 
operational and technical specifications of the Mirage upgrade programme.  

In December 1992, he was appointed to the Test and Evaluation branch of 
the Belgian Air Force. As a test pilot, he was involved in various 
activities, such as CARAPACE (an electronic warfare programme on F16) at 
Eglin Air Force Base, USA, and a Self-Protection Programme for the C130 
aircraft. During that period, he also flew in Gosselies as a reception 
pilot in different aircraft types.  

From January 1994 to April 1995, Frank De Winne was responsible for the 
flight safety programme of the 1st Fighter Wing at Beauvechain, Belgium.  

From April 1995 to July 1996, as a senior test pilot in the European 
Participating Air Forces (EPAF), he was detached to Edwards Air Force 
Base, California, where he worked on the mid-life update of the F16 
aircraft, focussing on radar testing.  

From 1996 to August 1998, he was senior test pilot in the Belgian Air 
Force, responsible for all test programmes and for all pilot-vehicle 
interfaces for future aircraft/software updates.  

From August 1998 to January 2000, Frank De Winne was the Squadron 
Commander of the 349th Fighter Squadron at Kleine Brogel Airbase, 
Belgium.  

During operation Allied Force, Frank De Winne was the detachment 
commander of the Deployable Air Task Force, a combined Belgian/Dutch 
detachment that flew about 2000 sorties during this Nato campaign. He has 
logged 17 combat sorties.  

Frank De Winne has logged more than 2300 hours flying time on several 
types of high-performance aircraft including Mirage, F16, Jaguar and 
Tornado.  

In January 2000, Frank De Winne joined the European Astronaut Corps of 
the European Space Agency (ESA), whose homebase is the European Astronaut 
Centre in Cologne, Germany.  

De Winne provided technical support for the X38/CRV project division 
within the Directorate of Manned Spaceflight and Microgravity, located at 
ESTEC, Noordwijk/Netherlands.  

Current assignment 
In August 2001, De Winne took up training at the Gagarin Cosmonaut 
Training Centre (GCTC), Star City, near Moscow. Training includes 
elements of Basic Training for the International Space Station as well as 
training as Soyuz board engineer.  

He is now preparing for a flight to the ISS on the Taxi flight No. 4 
scheduled for 30 October 2002. He will serve as flight engineer on Soyuz 
TMA during ascend, and on Soyuz TM during reentry. This will be the first 
flight of the newly designed Soyuz TMA Spacecraft.  

During his 8-day stay onboard ISS he will conduct an international 
science programme both in the Russian and American segment.