German astronaut team
Encyclopedia
The German astronaut team was established in 1987, until it became part of the European Astronaut Corps
European Astronaut Corps
The European Astronaut Corps is a unit of the European Space Agency that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members on U.S. and Russian space missions. As of May 2010, 21 ESA astronauts have flown in space, including one female. There are currently 14 active members of the Corps. The...

 in 1998. Before the establishment of the team German astronauts were selected for single missions, or as part of the ESA
European Space Agency
The European Space Agency , established in 1975, is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 18 member states...

 manned spaceflight activities.

Astronauts before 1990s

In 1976 East Germany selected Sigmund Jähn
Sigmund Jähn
Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn is a German pilot who became the first German to fly in space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos program.-Biography:Jähn was born in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, in the Vogtland district of Saxony, Germany...

 and Eberhard Köllner
Eberhard Köllner
Eberhard Köllner was selected for Soyuz 31 as the backup for Sigmund Jähn.He later became the Director of the Airforce Academy of the German Democratic Republic in the rank of an Oberst , following the reunion of Germany he refused to be transferred to the German Bundeswehr...

 as the participants of Intercosmos
Intercosmos
Interkosmos was a space program of the Soviet Union designed to include members of military forces of allied Warsaw Pact countries in manned and unmanned missions...

 missions to the Soviet Salyut 6
Salyut 6
Salyut 6 , DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth flown as part of the Salyut programme. Launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket, the station was the first of the 'second-generation' type of space station. Salyut 6 possessed several revolutionary advances over the earlier...

 space station. Jähn flew in 1978 on Soyuz 31
Soyuz 31
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.64°*Period: 88.81 minutes-Mission highlights:Soyuz 31, the third Intercosmos flight, was launched 26 August 1978...

.

1978 ESA selected a first group of astronauts to fly on the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...

 on Spacelab
Spacelab
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory consisted of multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier and other related hardware housed in the Shuttle's cargo bay...

 missions. Among this first group was Ulf Merbold
Ulf Merbold
Dr. Ulf Dietrich Merbold is the first West German citizen and second German native to have flown in space. He is also the first member of the European Space Agency Astronaut Corps to participate in a spaceflight mission. He holds the distinction of being the first non-US citizen to reach orbit in...

, who then also flew the first Spacelab mission STS-9
STS-9
STS-9 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission which carried the first Spacelab module into orbit to conduct space-based scientific experiments. It was the sixth mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia, and was Columbia's last flight until STS-61-C in January 1986...

. In the second ESA selection 1992 Thomas Reiter
Thomas Reiter
Thomas Arthur Reiter is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the Luftwaffe currently working as Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations at the European Space Agency . , he was one of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space...

 was selected.

For the first German sponsored Spacelab mission D-1 Reinhard Furrer and Ernst Messerschmid were selected in 1983, both flew on STS-61-A
STS-61-A
STS-61-A was the 22nd mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program. It was a scientific Spacelab mission, funded and directed by West Germany – hence the non-NASA designation of D-1 . STS-61-A was the last successful mission of the Space Shuttle Challenger, which was destroyed during STS-51-L in 1986...

 in 1985.

Astronaut team

The astronaut team was established in 1987 as part of the preparation for the second German sponsored Spacelab mission D-2. The group consisted of 5 astronaut candidates, of which Hans Schlegel and Ulrich Walter flew on STS-55
STS-55
-Backup crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter landing with payload: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 28.5°*Period: 90.7 min-Mission highlights:...

 in 1993, Gerhard Thiele flew on a later space shuttle mission STS-99, then as a member of the unified ESA astronaut corps, while only the two women never did any spaceflight. Hans Schlegel flew his second mission STS-122 in 2008 also as a member of the unified ESA astronaut corps.
  • Renate Brümmer
  • Hans Schlegel
    Hans Schlegel
    Hans Wilhelm Schlegel is a German physicist, an ESA astronaut, and a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions.-Early life and education:...

  • Gerhard Thiele
    Gerhard Thiele
    Dr. Gerhard Paul Julius Thiele is a German physicist and a former ESA astronaut.-Early life and education:Born in Heidenheim an der Brenz, he attended the Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium in Ludwigsburg. After school he volunteered for the German Navy, serving as Operations/Weapons Officer aboard fast...

  • Heike Walpot
  • Ulrich Walter
    Ulrich Walter
    Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hans Walter is a German physicist/engineer and a former DFVLR astronaut.Walter was born in Iserlohn, Germany. After finishing secondary school there and two years in the Bundeswehr, he studied physics at the University of Cologne...



For a German mission to the space station Mir two cosmonauts were selected in 1990, and were also included into the German team. Klaus-Dietrich Flade flew on Soyuz TM-14
Soyuz TM-14
-Mission highlights:14th expedition to Mir. Included astronaut from Germany.The First Russian Soyuz mission after the collapse of the Soviet Union....

 in 1992, Reinhold Ewald on a second Mir mission on Soyuz TM-25
Soyuz TM-25
-Crew:-Mission highlights:This was the 30th expedition to Mir. An ESA astronaut from Germany was included on the mission.Soyuz TM-25 is a Russian spacecraft that was launched to carry astronauts and supplies to Mir station...

 in February 1997.
  • Reinhold Ewald
    Reinhold Ewald
    Dr. Reinhold Ewald is a German physicist and ESA astronaut.Born in Mönchengladbach, Germany, he received diploma in experimental physics from the University of Cologne in 1983 and the Ph.D. in 1986, with a minor degree in human physiology.In 1990, he was selected to the German astronaut team,...

  • Klaus-Dietrich Flade
    Klaus-Dietrich Flade
    Klaus-Dietrich Flade is a German pilot and former German Aerospace Center astronaut who visited the Mir space station in 1992 aboard the Soyuz TM-14 mission, returning to Earth a week later aboard Soyuz TM-13.-Biography:...


European Corps

Gerhard Thiele and Hans Schlegel were the first two German astronauts to be included in the European Astronaut Corps in 1998; 1999 Reinhold Ewald joined as well.
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