Renate Luise Brümmer (born 4 May 1955) is a Swiss-born German meteorological scientist and former astronaut. Specialising in

satellite meteorology A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites can be polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asynchronously), or geo ...

, she was selected as an astronaut in 1987, retiring in 1993, having never been into space.

Early life and education

Brümmer received the equivalent of a Master of Science degree in mathematics and physics from the University of Munich in 1981, and a Doctorate from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...

and

physical oceanography Physical oceanography is the study of physical conditions and physical processes within the ocean, especially the motions and physical properties of ocean waters. Physical oceanography is one of several sub-domains into which oceanography is div ...

in 1986. She had previously qualified as a schoolteacher and taught mathematics and physics at a secondary school. She also held a private pilot's license.^:238

Space career

The German Aerospace Center was due to select a group of German scientists to become astronauts for the

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 ...

D2 missions in 1986, following the successful flights of Ulf Merbold in 1983 and 1985; this selection was postponed until 1987 after the ''Challenger'' disaster.^:237–238 To select astronauts, a competition was run in 1986, and 1400 people applied; 20% were women.^:279 Brümmer was one of the five people in the first selection 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 ...

on 3 August 1987, as a payload specialist.^:237 Two of the selection were women, Brümmer and

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 ...

, Germany's first women astronauts;^:237 neither woman ever went to space. Brümmer completed basic training by 1990 with the rest of the German team, then undertook further mission-specific training across Europe and the United States. The crew for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...

mission

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 exper ...

was selected in early 1992, with Brümmer and

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 ...

being made reserves and trained for both flight and mission control; Walpot was named a crew interface coordinator and only trained for mission control. As part of the Spacelab D2 group training in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

and planning to use 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 n ...

in 1992, Brümmer was initially considered to fly on the Soviet Mir mission that had been scheduled for the same time, which instead went ahead as

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 ...

with mostly Russian astronauts and Germans selected after the first five.^:224–225 For STS-55, in 1993, she was a reserve astronaut and supported the flying astronauts from the

Oberpfaffenhofen Oberpfaffenhofen is a village that is part of the municipality of Weßling in the district of Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is located about from the city center of Munich. Village The village is home to the Oberpfaffenhofen Airport and ...

control centre during the mission; if she had flown, she would have been the first schoolteacher to orbit Earth.^:238 The German astronaut team was disbanded later in 1993.^:238

Later career

Brümmer is a professional meteorologist; she had been a research associate at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado sy ...

at the time of her astronaut selection.^:237 After retiring as an astronaut, she returned to

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a home rule city that is the county seat and most populous municipality of Boulder County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, making it the 12th most populous city in Colora ...

, to become a researcher at the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditi ...

.^:238 She joined the

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a US nonprofit consortium of more than 100 colleges and universities providing research and training in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmosph ...

(CIRA) in 1995 at Colorado-Boulder. Initially, she worked as part of the

GLOBE Program The Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment (GLOBE) Program is a worldwide hands-on, science and education program focusing on the environment, now active in over 120 countries worldwide. It works to promote the teaching and l ...

and in running the FX-Net project to deliver forecasting interfaces over the Internet. In the 2010s, she began working as a coordinator for the Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch, researching satellite applications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brümmer, Renate 1955 births Women astronauts German astronauts Swiss astronauts Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Colorado State University faculty People from St. Gallen (city) People from Boulder, Colorado Living people