German astronaut team

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

In 1998, the team became part of the European Astronaut Corps.

History

In 1976, East Germany selected Sigmund Jähn and Eberhard Köllner as the participants of Intercosmos missions to the Soviet Salyut 6 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 on Spacelab missions. Among this first group was Ulf Merbold, who then also flew the first Spacelab mission STS-9. In the second ESA selection 1992 Thomas Reiter was selected.

For the first German sponsored Spacelab mission D-1, Reinhard Furrer and Ernst Messerschmid 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 German-sponsored Spacelab mission, D-2.

Team members

The team initially consisted of 5 astronaut candidates:

• Renate Brümmer
• Hans Schlegel
• Gerhard Thiele
• Heike Walpot
• Ulrich Walter

For a German mission to the space station Mir, two cosmonauts were selected in 1990, and added to the German team:

• Klaus-Dietrich Flade
• Reinhold Ewald

Flaede flew on Soyuz TM-14 in 1992. Schlegel and Walter flew on STS-55 in 1993. Ewald flew on a second Mir mission on Soyuz TM-25 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 Shlegel joined the Corps. Ewald joined in 1999. Thiele flew on space shuttle mission STS-99, and Schlegel flew his second mission STS-122 in 2008.