Sep 21, 2010

Posted by in history

Germans in space

Red arrow points to German astronaut Merbold

I happened over to the DLR website (the German research agency for aeronautics and space) and found a short article about German astronauts. Didn’t know anything about them, so here’s some highlights, and a link to the whole article.

[This summary contains additional material from other sources.]

The first German in space apparently was Sigmund Jähn, who flew aboard the Soviet Soyuz in August 1978. He flew along with Valery Bykovsky, who’s career went back to Vostok 5, the 1963 mission which flew close to Vostok 6, the latter carrying Valentina Tereshkova—the first woman in space.

Jähn—who was from East Germany—visited the Salyut 6 space station. He and Bykovsky then switched spacecraft and returned to earth on Soyuz 29.

German astronaut Ulf Merbold flew aboard STS-9, and early shuttle flight which included setting up SpaceLab, a project by the European Space Agency. That flight was commanded by moon walker John Young. Merbold went on to fly two more space missions.

Two German astronauts visited the Soviet Mir space station. The later space missions by Germans were, frankly, not so interesting in my book. But you can decide.

  • Volker

    Well, I wouldn’t say that “later space missions by Germans were not so interesting.” China may have been the third nation to launch its own manned space program, but much earlier, in 1985, Germany became the third nation to control a manned space mission from its own soil.

    STS-61-A, also known as D-1 (Deutschland-1), launched October 30, 1985, was a Spacelab mission funded by (then) West-Germany and controlled from the German Space Operations Center in Oberpfaffenhofen instead of the regular NASA centers.

    The mission was carried out by five Americans, two Germans and the first Dutch astronaut. It was the first time that any nation other than the USA or the Soviet Union had more than one astronaut in space at the same flight. STS-61-A also still holds the record for the largest crew, eight people, aboard any single spacecraft for the entire period from launch to landing. According to German astronaut Ernst Messerschmid, the Germans convinced NASA to temporarily install an eighth seat in the shuttle to handle the large amount of experiments.

    Read Messerschmid’s interview at spacedaily.com:
    http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Interview_With_German_Astronaut_Ernst_Messerschmid_999.html