The German astronaut team was established in 1987. Before the establishment of the team, then-

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

astronauts were selected for single missions, or as part of the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

's manned spaceflight activities.

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

had its first cosmonaut,

Sigmund Jähn Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (; 13 February 1937 – 21 September 2019) was a German cosmonaut and pilot who in 1978 became the first German to fly into space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos programme. Early life Jähn was born on 13 Fe ...

; Jähn was both West and East Germany's first citizen in space when he departed from

Baikonur Baikonur ( kk, Байқоңыр, ; russian: Байконур, translit=Baykonur), formerly known as Leninsk, is a city of republic significance in Kazakhstan on the northern bank of the Syr Darya river. It is currently leased and administered ...

in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

August August is the eighth month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars, and the fifth of seven months to have a length of 31 days. Its zodiac sign is Leo and was originally named ''Sextilis'' in Latin because it was the 6th month in ...

and returned to Earth in September 1978. West and East Germany reunified in 1990 and the astronaut team became representative of a single German nation. In 1998, the team became part of the

European Astronaut Corps The European Astronaut Corps is a unit of the European Space Agency (ESA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members on U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has 13 active members, able to serve on the International Space St ...

History

In 1976,

selected

and

Eberhard Köllner Eberhard Köllner (born 29 September 1939 in Stassfurt, Germany) 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'' (" ...

as the participants of

Intercosmos Interkosmos (russian: Интеркосмос) was a Soviet space program, designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with crewed and uncrewed space missions. The program was formed in April 1967 in Moscow. All members of the program from USSR ...

missions to the Soviet

Salyut 6 Salyut 6 (russian: Салют-6; lit. Salute 6), DOS-5, was a Soviet orbital space station, the eighth station of the Salyut programme. It was launched on 29 September 1977 by a Proton rocket. Salyut 6 was the first space station to receiv ...

space station. Jähn flew in 1978 on Soyuz 31. In 1978, the ESA selected a first group of astronauts to fly on the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...

Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...

missions. Among this first group was

Ulf Merbold Ulf Dietrich Merbold (born June 20, 1941) is a German physicist and astronaut who flew to space three times, becoming the first West German citizen in space and the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft. Merbold flew on two Space Shu ...

, who then also flew the first Spacelab mission STS-9. In the second ESA selection in 1992

Thomas Reiter Thomas Arthur Reiter (born 23 May 1958 in Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the ...

was selected. For the first (then-West) German sponsored Spacelab mission

D-1 D1, D01, D.I, D.1 or D-1 can refer to: Science and technology Biochemistry and medicine * ATC code D01 ''Antifungals for dermatological use'', a subgroup of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System * Dopamine receptor D1, Dopamine ...

, Reinhard Furrer and

Ernst Messerschmid Ernst Willi Messerschmid (born 21 May 1945) is a German physicist and former astronaut. Born in Reutlingen, Germany, Messerschmid finished the ''Technisches Gymnasium'' in Stuttgart in 1965. After two years of military service he studied physics ...

were selected in 1983. Both flew again on STS-61-A in 1985. The astronaut team was established in 1987, as part of the preparation for the second West German-sponsored

mission, D-2.

Team members

The team initially consisted of 5 astronaut candidates: *

Renate Brümmer Renate Luise Brümmer (born 4 May 1955) is a Swiss-born German meteorological scientist and former astronaut. Specialising in satellite meteorology, she was selected as an astronaut in 1987, retiring in 1993, having never been into space. Early ...

Hans Schlegel Hans Wilhelm Schlegel ( Überlingen, 3 August 1951) is a German physicist, a former ESA astronaut, and a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions. Early life and education Schlegel, born and raised in Germany, graduated as an international e ...

Gerhard Thiele Gerhard Paul Julius Thiele (born September 2, 1953) is a German physicist and a former ESA astronaut. He is the father of Die Astronautin candidate Insa Thiele-Eich. Early life and education Born in Heidenheim an der Brenz, he attended the Frie ...

Heike Walpot Heike John (now Heike Walpot; born 19 June 1960) is a German retired swimmer and former astronaut candidate. She won a bronze medal at the 1977 European Aquatics Championships. She competed at the 1976 Summer Olympics in the 100 m and 200 m back ...

Ulrich Walter Ulrich Hans Walter (born February 9, 1954) is a Germans, German physicist, engineer and a former German Aerospace Center, DFVLR astronaut. Education Walter was born in Iserlohn. After finishing secondary school there and two years in the Bundes ...

For a German mission to the space station Mir, two cosmonauts were selected in 1990 (a few days after the reunification of West and East Germany), and added to the German team: *

Klaus-Dietrich Flade Klaus-Dietrich Flade (born 23 August 1952) 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 Born ...

Reinhold Ewald Reinhold Ewald (born 18 December 1956) is a German physicist and ESA astronaut. Biography Born in Mönchengladbach, West Germany, he received a Diploma in experimental physics from the University of Cologne in 1983 and a Ph.D. in 1986, with a m ...

Flade flew on

Soyuz TM-14 Soyuz TM-14 was the 14th expedition to the Mir space station.The full mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-TM14.htm It included an astronaut from Germany, and was the first Russian Soyuz mission after t ...

in 1992, Schlegel and Walter on

STS-55 STS-55, or Deutschland 2 (D-2), was the 55th overall flight of the NASA Space Shuttle and the 14th flight of Shuttle '' Columbia''. This flight was a multinational Spacelab flight involving 88 experiments from eleven different nations. The expe ...

in 1993. Ewald flew on a second Mir mission on

Soyuz TM-25 Soyuz TM-25 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight, which launched on February 10, 1997.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-TM-25.htm It transported Russian cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Lazutkin, ...

in February 1997. Brümmer and Walpot did not fly on any missions.

Transition to European Corps

The team began to merge with the unified ESA Astronaut Corps in 1998, when Thiele and Schlegel joined the Corps. Ewald joined in 1999. Thiele flew on space shuttle mission

STS-99 STS-99 was a Space Shuttle mission using ''Endeavour'', that launched on 11 February 2000 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The primary objective of the mission was the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) project. This was also the last s ...

, and Schlegel flew his second mission

STS-122 STS-122 was a NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS), flown by the . STS-122 marked the 24th shuttle mission to the ISS, and the 121st Space Shuttle flight overall. The mission was also referred to as ISS-1E by the ...

in 2008.

External links

German astronauts and their missions
{{DEFAULTSORT:German Astronaut Team * Space programme of Germany

History

Team members

Transition to European Corps

See also

External links