ESA astronauts Frank De Winne and André Kuipers during experiment training at JAXA's Tsukuba Space Center. De Winne is scheduled to spend six months on the International Space Station (ISS) between May and November 2009. Kuipers is assigned as his back-up. Before the flight both De Winne and Kuipers receive training in experiments that will be performed during the mission. At Tsukuba the training covers experiments that take place inside the Japanese Kibo laboratory.