A Japanese astronaut is to harvest cucumbers on board the International Space Station.

Satoshi Furukawa is set to blast off early on Wednesday for a half-year stint in orbit along with Sergei Volkov, a Russian, and Michael Fossum, an American. He said he would be growing cucumbers to research how future space explorers could harvest their own food.

"We wish we were able to eat the cucumbers, but we have not been allowed," he said on the launchpad in Kazakhstan. Millions of concerned consumers across Europe have been spurning cucumbers in the wake of an E coli outbreak blamed on contaminated vegetables.

Mindful of their own health ahead of their mission, astronauts at the Russia-leased launchpad in Kazakhstan remain in strict isolation in the days ahead of any launch to avoid exposure to infection. Furukawa, Fossum and Volkov sat behind a plate of protective glass as they told a news conference about the highlights of their upcoming mission.

Fossum said he was ready for the heavy workload that will come with being in orbit as the US shuttle Atlantis makes its final voyage to the space laboratory in July.

"There is always an adaptation time when we get there, but we are going to hit the ground running. We have to," he said.

Fossum, 53, is the oldest member of the outbound crew and has been closely involved with the design and assembly of the International Space Station over its brief history.

"[I] helped design the space station, I helped build it on two assembly flights and now to have the opportunity to live there is just amazing," he said. "We are going to miss the shuttles' capabilities, because ... they are awesome and unmatched."

The grounding of Nasa's space shuttles will leave Russia's Soyuz spacecraft as the only way to reach the station and back to Earth.

Japan has led the way in trying to raise culinary standards in space. Japanese astronaut Soichi Noguchi, who is in Baikonur escorting Furukawa's family, even made his own sushi while on the space station last year.

Fossum, Furukawa and Volkov are due to return to Earth in the middle of November.