Astronauts move in to the International space station
Three astronauts set off to set up home in the international space station on 31 October. The space station's first crew, including commander Bill Shepherd (US), Soyuz commander Yuri Gidzenko (Russia) and flight engineer Sergei Krikalev (Russia), will spend the next four months setting up and testing the new space craft. They have been preparing for their mission since 1996. The first European will visit the space station next year, when European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Umberto Guidoni (Italy) will board the space shuttle mission STS-102 scheduled to carry the Italian-built multi-purpose logistic module and nine tonnes of fresh cargo to the space station in April 2001. ESA is one of five partners in the International Space Station. The others are the United States, Russia, Japan and Canada.