Reinhold Ewald (born 18 December 1956) is a German physicist and

ESA , 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 ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

Biography

Born in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Mönchengladbac ...

West Germany 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 ...

, he received a

Diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offici ...

in experimental physics from the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne (german: Universität zu Köln) is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in the year 1388 and is one of the most prestigious and research intensive universities in Germany. It was the sixth university to ...

in 1983 and a

Ph.D. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in 1986, with a minor degree in human physiology. In 1990, he was selected to the

German astronaut team The German astronaut team was established in 1987. Before the establishment of the team, then- West German astronauts were selected for single missions, or as part of the European Space Agency's manned spaceflight activities. East Germany had its ...

, training for the

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

'92 mission. He was the backup of

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 Bo ...

for the

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 ...

mission. In 1995 he began training for the second German Mir mission. In February 1997 he flew to the space station Mir with

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, ...

, spending 20 days in space. He performed experiments in biomedical and material sciences, and carried out operational tests in preparation for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

. In February 1999, he joined 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 ...

at the

European Astronaut Centre The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) (German: Europäisches Astronautenzentrum, French: Centre des astronautes européens), is an establishment of the European Space Agency and home of the European Astronaut Corps. It is near to Cologne, Germany ...

(EAC) in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany. From 2006 to 2011, Ewald headed the Flight Operations Division within ESA's ISS Operations department at the Columbus Control Centre near

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. In this role, he directed a team of ESA Mission Directors managing the

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

laboratory delivery flight in February 2008 and the Columbus science activities thereafter. He served as an Advisor to the Head of Director General's Cabinet at ESA's headquarters in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

from 2011 to 2014, followed by a position at the

in Cologne, promoting the scientific achievements of the ESA research programme on the International Space Station. In September 2015 he was appointed as Professor for Astronautics and Space Stations at the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) at the University of Stuttgart as the successor to

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 ...

. He is married and has three children. He enjoys reading and spending time with his family, and performs with an amateur theatre group. His main sports are

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

and he holds a black belt in

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

References

External links

ESA profile page
on Spacefacts {{DEFAULTSORT:Ewald, Reinhold 1956 births Living people German astronauts ESA astronauts European Space Agency personnel People from Mönchengladbach University of Cologne alumni European amateur radio operators Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Mir crew members