German spacemen

The ten living of so far (2020) eleven German space travelers (July 2013, from left to right): Thiele , Ewald , Flade , Walter , Schlegel , Messerschmid , Reiter , Jähn , Merbold , Gerst

The German Aerospace does not have a manned space program . The - so far exclusively male - German space travelers therefore only flew into space as crew members on missions in other countries: with the Soyuz spacecraft of the Soviet Union (later Russia ) and with the space shuttle of the United States .

Hans Schlegel and Alexander Gerst are currently the only active German space travelers . Matthias Maurer is also a member of the European Astronaut Corps , but has not yet completed a space flight.

Supervising organizations

Overview

The astronauts were selected and trained by three different authorities and companies, sometimes in parallel:

• In 1976, the air forces of the GDR selected two candidates for a space flight in the Soviet Union as part of the Interkosmos program. One of them was used, the other was a substitute.
• The DFVLR of the Federal Republic of Germany selected a total of nine space travelers on three occasions (1982, 1987, 1990) to take part in research missions on the space shuttle or on the Mir space station . Seven of them were used.
• At the European level, ESA selected a total of 16 astronauts from 10 countries on three occasions (1977, 1992, 2009). There was a German in each of the three selections. All of them were used, a fourth joined in 2015.

From 1999 there was no longer a purely German group of astronauts, the German space activities are fully integrated in the ESA and its astronaut corps .

Sigmund Jähn , the first German in space

GDR participation in the Interkosmos program

As part of the Interkosmos program, the Soviet Union made it possible for friendly nations to participate in manned space missions. For the flight with GDR participation, two pilots from the air forces of the GDR were selected on November 25, 1976 : Sigmund Jähn and Eberhard Köllner , Jähn undertook the space flight with Soyuz 31 in August / September 1978 and Köllner was the substitute. Further flights were not planned, so that after the flight there was no longer a GDR cosmonaut group.

The astronaut groups from DFVLR / DLR

The first German astronaut group was put together on December 19, 1982 by what was then the German Research and Research Institute for Aerospace (DFVLR, later the German Aerospace Center, DLR). Were selected Reinhard Furrer and Ernst Schmid knife that for a space flight with the Space Shuttle were trained in the European Spacelab would be -Laboratory on board. This seven-day flight took place on October 30, 1985 under the designation STS-61-A and was also known in Germany as the D1 mission . After the flight, the astronaut group was disbanded.

The astronaut group of the DFVLR: Schlegel, Walter, Brümmer (back), Walpot, Thiele (front)

The next German astronaut group of the DFVLR was put together on August 3, 1987 and consisted of five people, including women for the first time: Renate Brümmer , Hans Schlegel , Gerhard Thiele , Heike Walpot and Ulrich Walter . Brümmer, Schlegel, Thiele and Walter were trained by NASA to become payload specialists for the STS-55 mission from October 1990 . The flight took place in April 1993 with the participation of Schlegel and Walter. After this flight, Brümmer, Walpot and Walter resigned, Schlegel and Thiele, on the other hand, remained in the German space corps and stood ready for further missions.

The political changes at the end of the 1980s ( perestroika and glasnost ) also made it possible for the Federal Republic to work with the Soviet Union. In parallel to the preparation for the shuttle flight, the German spaceman group was reinforced on October 8, 1990 by Reinhold Ewald and Klaus-Dietrich Flade . In contrast to their colleagues, however, they were trained in the Soviet Union and were preparing for a flight to the Mir space station . Flade was used in March 1992, Ewald in February 1997.

German spacemen at ESA

Ulf Merbold , the first ESA astronaut in space

As early as 1977, before national astronaut groups were set up in France , Germany and Italy , ESA had made its own selection of astronauts so that European astronauts could carry out the European experiments on board the space shuttle. The German preselection was made by the DFVLR, which on April 23, 1977 was looking for a "scientist in the space laboratory" by newspaper advertisement, to which more than 700 applications were received. The four ESA astronauts selected on December 22, 1977 also included Ulf Merbold , and it was also Merbold who was the first non-American on board the space shuttle at STS-9 in November 1983 . Merbold later came on two more space flights for ESA: in 1992 with the STS-42 shuttle mission and in 1994 on board the Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-20 to the Mir space station .

A second ESA group was not formed until 15 years later, on May 15, 1992. Among the six aspiring astronauts from six countries, Thomas Reiter was again a German. Reiter was the first German spaceman who completed long-term missions on space stations: six months each on the Mir and on the ISS .

The establishment of the European Astronaut Corps of ESA was accompanied by the dissolution of the national astronaut corps in Germany, France and Italy. Until 1999, the still active German astronauts Schlegel, Thiele and Ewald moved from DLR to ESA.

At the next ESA selection, which was set up on May 20, 2009, Alexander Gerst was again a German. Gerst carried out a long-term stay on the ISS in 2014 and again in June 2018, during which he also took over command of the ISS from October 2018.

Since there will be more flight options for ESA in the future, Matthias Maurer joined the European Astronaut Corps in July 2015 as another German astronaut candidate.

The astronaut

So far, no German woman has been in space. For this reason, the German aerospace engineer (degree in mechanical engineering and aerospace technology ) and entrepreneur Claudia Kessler launched the initiative Die Astronautin (since June 2017: Foundation of the first German female astronaut, non-profit company ) after she herself failed , astronaut to be. The aim of this initiative is to bring the first German into space and enable her to spend a short time on the ISS . The private foundation is financed through donations , crowdfunding and support from industry.

On April 19, 2017, the Bundeswehr pilot Nicola Baumann and the scientist Insa Thiele-Eich were selected from over 400 applicants to undergo appropriate training. To finance the first German female astronaut training, a first crowdfunding round in spring 2017 raised 68,590 euros. Nicola Baumann resigned from the training in December 2017, and Suzanna Randall was nominated as a successor in February 2018 .

The flight to the ISS was initially targeted for 2019 at the latest, then postponed to 2020 and further to 2021. However, the initiative has not yet booked a fixed flight, and the financing of the EUR 50 million space mission has not yet been secured.

See also : Space # Women in Space

List of German spacemen

The following astronauts had German citizenship at the time of launch.

Surname	mission	Host country	Mission start	Flight duration	Space station	Mission goal
Sigmund Jähn	Soyuz 31 / Soyuz 29	Soviet Union	Aug 26, 1978	7 days	Salyut 6
Ulf Merbold	STS-9	United States	Nov 28, 1983	10 days		Scientific experiments in the Spacelab module
	STS-42	United States	Jan. 22, 1992	8 days		Scientific experiments in the Spacelab module
	Soyuz TM-20 / Soyuz TM-19	Russia	0Oct 3, 1994	31 days	Me
Reinhard Furrer	STS-61-A (D1)	United States	Oct. 30, 1985	7 days		Scientific experiments in the Spacelab module, deployment of the GLOMR satellite
Ernst Messerschmid	STS-61-A (D1)	United States	Oct. 30, 1985	7 days		Scientific experiments in the Spacelab module, deployment of the GLOMR satellite
Klaus-Dietrich Flade	Soyuz TM-14 / Soyuz TM-13	Russia	17th Mar 1992	7 days	Me
Hans Schlegel	STS-55 (D2)	United States	Apr 26, 1993	9 days		Scientific experiments in the Spacelab module
	STS-122	United States	0Feb 7, 2008	12 days	ISS	Installation of Columbus on the ISS
Ulrich Walter	STS-55 (D2)	United States	Apr 26, 1993	9 days		Scientific experiments in the Spacelab module
Thomas Reiter	Soyuz TM-22 / Euromir 95	Russia	03rd Sep 1995	179 days	Me
	STS-121 / Expedition 13 / Expedition 14 / STS-116	United States	04th July 2006	171 days	ISS
Reinhold Ewald	Soyuz TM-25 / Soyuz TM-24	Russia	Feb 10, 1997	19 days	Me
Gerhard Thiele	STS-99	United States	Feb 11, 2000	11 days		Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, positioning of various satellites
Alexander Gerst	Soyuz TMA-13M / ISS Expedition 40 / ISS Expedition 41	Russia	May 28, 2014	165 days	ISS
	Soyuz MS-09 / ISS Expedition 56 / ISS Expedition 57	Russia	0June 6, 2018	197 days	ISS

Abdul Ahad Momand made a flight to the Mir space station as an Afghan cosmonaut in 1988 . In 1992 he fled Afghanistan with his wife and daughter, first to India , then to Germany. He now has German citizenship.

Timeline

date	GDR	ESA	DFVLR / DLR
Nov 25, 1976	GDR selection: Jähn and Köllner
Dec 22, 1977		First ESA selection: 4 astronauts from 4 countries, including Merbold
0May 1, 1978		NASA training from Merbold to become a payload specialist
Aug 26 - Sep 3 19781978 0	Flight from Jähn with Soyuz 31 to Salyut 6 , return flight with Soyuz 29 , Köllner as a replacement
Sep 1978	Jähn and Köllner leave
Dec. 19, 1982			First DFVLR selection: Furrer and Messerschmidt , NASA training as payload specialists
Nov 28 - Dec 8, 19831983 0		Flight of Merbold at STS-9
Oct 30 - Nov 6, 19851985 0		Merbold replacement for STS-61-A	Flight of Furrer and Messerschmidt on STS-61-A
Nov 1985			Furrer and Messerschmidt leave the company
0Aug 3, 1987			Second DFVLR selection: Brümmer , Schlegel , Thiele , Walpot and Walter
Late 1988		Selection of Merbold for shuttle flight
0Oct 8, 1990			Selection of Ewald and Flade for DLR
Jan 22 - Jan 30, 19921992		Flight of Merbold at STS-42
17th Mar - 25th Mar 19921992			Flight from Flade with Soyuz TM-14 for Mir '92, return flight with Soyuz TM-13 , Ewald as replacement
May 15, 1992		Second ESA selection: 6 astronauts from 6 countries, including riders
Apr 26 - May 6, 19931993 0			Flight of Schlegel and Walter at STS-55 , Brümmer and Thiele as replacement
May 1993			Eliminate Brümmer, Walpot and Walter
Aug 1993		Selection by Merbold for Euromir '94
0Oct 3 - Nov 4, 19941994 0		Flight of Merbold with Soyuz TM-20 for Euromir '94
03rd Sep 1995 - Feb 29, 1996		Flight of Reiter with Soyuz TM-22 for Euromir '95
1996/1997			Thiele at NASA Group 16, training as a mission specialist
Feb 10 - Mar 2 19971997 0			Flight from Ewald with Soyuz TM-25 , Schlegel as a replacement
25th Mar 1998		ESA decision for the European Astronaut Corps EAC
0June 1, 1998		Education EAC with rider
0Aug 1, 1998		Schlegel and Thiele switch from DLR to ESA
1998/1999		Schlegel at NASA Group 17, training as a mission specialist
Aug 30, 1998		Merbold is out
Feb 1999		Ewald changes from DLR to ESA, so that four Germans in the EAC, DLR group, are dissolved
Feb 11 - Feb 22, 20002000		Flight from Thiele with STS-99
2003 -  April 2004		Thiele replacement for the Dutchman Kuipers at Soyuz TMA-4
Oct 2005		Thiele resigns from EAC
04th July - 22nd Dec. 20062006		Flight from Reiter with STS-121 to the ISS (Expeditions 13 and 14 , return flight with STS-116 )
2007		Ewald resigns from EAC
Oct 2007		Reiter resigns from EAC
0Feb 7 - Feb 20, 20082008		Flight of Schlegel at STS-122
May 20, 2009		Third ESA selection: 6 astronauts from 5 countries, including Gerst
Sep 18 2011		Selection of barley for ISS expedition 40 and 41
May 28 - November 10, 20142014		Flight of Gerst on ISS Expedition 40 and ISS Expedition 41
July 2015		Maurer as EAC successor
May 18, 2016		Selection of barley for ISS expedition 56 and 57 . Nomination as commander of 57.
0June 6th - December 20th, 20182018		Flight of Gerst on ISS expedition 56 and 57; First German ISS commander from October 4, 2018

See also

• List of spacemen

Web links

• Astronaut biographies including all German astronauts at spacefacts.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Jonas-Erik Schmidt: Astronaut Maurer on the way into space: "Space is addicting". September 25, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018 . 
2. ^ Joachim Wilhelm Josef Becker, Heinz Hermann Janssen: Interkosmos selection groups. June 2, 2008, accessed October 5, 2011 . 
3. ^ ^{A b c} Joachim Wilhelm Josef Becker, Heinz Hermann Janssen: Selection groups of the DLR. June 2, 2008, accessed October 5, 2011 . 
4. ↑ "The heart puffs up with 3g" . In: Der Spiegel . No. 33 , 1977, pp. 107-109 ( online - August 8, 1977 ). The article also mentions the upcoming flight of a GDR cosmonaut.
5. ^ ^{A b} Joachim Wilhelm Josef Becker, Heinz Hermann Janssen: ESA selection groups. July 1, 2009, accessed October 5, 2011 . 
6. ↑ German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst flew to the space station in 2014! ESA, September 18, 2011, accessed October 8, 2011 . 
7. ↑ Bayerischer Rundfunk: Astro-Alex is now the commander of the ISS. October 3, 2018, accessed October 4, 2018 . 
8. ^ Matthias Maurer - Personal details. ESA, January 25, 2017, accessed December 22, 2017 . 
9. ↑ Bremen District Court, HRB 32510 HB, announcement of August 15, 2017.
10. ↑ Deutschlandfunk Information and Music April 13, 2020, ondemand-mp3.dradio.de: Easter Series: Heaven - Interview with the aerospace engineer Claudia Kessler (April 13, 2020)
11. ↑ ^{a b} The astronaut: Two candidates prevail in the selection process. Die Astronautin, April 19, 2017, accessed December 22, 2017 . 
12. ↑ Project page at Startnext , accessed on September 13, 2019.
13. ↑ ESO astronomer selected for astronaut training program. European Southern Observatory (ESO), February 16, 2018, accessed April 18, 2018 . 
14. ↑ Purpose. In: The astronaut. Accessed April 13, 2020 (German). 
15. ↑ Nicola Baumann does not want to be the first German astronaut to go into space. In: Focus Online. December 14, 2017, accessed on December 22, 2017 : “The initiative has to collect around 50 million euros for training and the flight into space. "We're making progress," said Kessler, "but a large part of the money is still missing."