ESA names French astronaut to ISS mission

PARIS, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- French astronaut Leopold Eyharts has been assigned to travel to the International Space Station this year to help commission the European Columbus laboratory.

The European Space Agency said Eyharts will fly on space shuttle Discovery's STS-122 mission in October as a member of the ISS Expedition 16 crew, returning to Earth on space shuttle Endeavour's STS-123 mission two months later.

En route to the ISS, Eyharts will be accompanied by five National Aeronautics and Space Administration crewmates and ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel of Germany. While Eyharts will remain onboard the Station to oversee activation of the Columbus laboratory, Schlegel will return to Earth 14 days after launch.

Eyharts has been a member of the European Astronaut Corps since 1998 and carried out his first space mission to the Russian space station Mir in 1998 as a French space agency astronaut.