NASA and its international partners have appointed future crew members for the International Space Station.

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and European Space Agency astronaut Tim Peake are scheduled to launch in December 2015 and return to Earth in spring 2016. They will join the Expedition 45 crew members in orbit and will remain aboard as part of Expedition 46 with yearlong expedition Commander Scott Kelly and Flight Engineer Mikhail Kornienko.

This will be the second long-duration spaceflight for Kopra, a former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and graduate of the U.S. Military Academy. Kopra was a flight engineer aboard the station during Expedition 20 in 2009. This will be the first spaceflight for Peake, a former British Army helicopter pilot and graduate of the Royal Military Academy.

The Expedition 45 crew will be:

— NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, station commander
— Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, flight engineer
— NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, flight engineer
— ESA astronaut Tim Peake, flight engineer

For complete astronaut biographical information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/astronauts

To follow Twitter updates from Kopra and Peake, visit:  http://twitter.com/astro_tim and http://twitter.com/astro_timpeake