Expedition 20 is ready for launch

BAIKONUR COSMODROME, Kazakhstan, May 26 (UPI) -- The European Space Agency says the Soyuz rocket that will take Expedition 20 crew members to the International Space Station is ready for launch.

The Expedition 20 mission is scheduled for launch Wednesday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 6:34 a.m. EDT.

Expedition 20 will mark the start of six-person crew operations aboard the orbiting space station. The first six-person crew will represent all five of the international partner agencies -- the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

ESA astronaut Frank De Winne's mission onboard the ISS will last six months, during which he will, among other tasks, become the first European to command the permanently manned human outpost in space.

Other Expedition 20 crew members are Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka and Roman Romanenko; Canadian Space Agency astronaut Robert Thirsk; U.S. astronauts Michael Barratt, Nicole Stott and Tim Kopra; and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata.