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A German will become the first representative of the European Space Agency to complete a 6-month mission aboard the International Space Station(ISS).

The ESA has had other people on the station but none this long. Thomas Reiter, 46, will head up on Expedition 11 aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, courtesy of the Russian Space Agency Roskosmos. The ship flies in July of this year.

Reiter will conduct a number of tasks aboard the ISS including a number of experiments and the general upkeep of the station.

Reiter, while not having been to the ISS still has quite a few hours above the planet including his 6-month stint on the MIR station back in 1995. He worked with two Russian cosmonauts then.

An ESA astronaut, Roberto Vittori just returned last Monday from an 8-day mission on the ISS. He brought home cosmonaut Salizan Sharipov and Leroy Chiao from their own 6-month stints on the ISS.

John Stith is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.