Thomas A. Reiter
In 1992, Thomas A. Reiter was selected to join ESA’s European Astronaut Corps, based at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. After completing basic training, Reiter was selected for the Euromir 95 mission and started training at TsPK (Cosmonauts Training Centre) in Star City near Moscow in August 1993, preparing for onboard-engineer tasks, extra-vehicular activities and operations of the Soyuz transportation system. The Euromir 95 experiment training was organized and mainly carried out at EAC.
In March 1995, he was assigned as on-board engineer for the Euromir 95 mission, a record-breaking 179 days on ESA's Euromir 95 mission (3 September 1995 until 29 February 1996) with two spacewalks (EVAs).
In the ESA-Russian Euromir 95 mission to the Mir Space Station, along with Russian colleagues Yuri Gidzenko and Serguei Avdee,. Reiter was assigned as on-board engineer for the record-breaking 179 days mission (3 September 1995 until 29 February 1996).
He performed some 40 European scientific experiments and participated in the maintenance of the Mir space station. He performed two spacewalks (EVAs) to install and later retrieve cassettes of the European Space Exposure Facility experiments (ESEF).
Between October 1996 and July 1997, Reiter underwent training on Soyuz-TM spacecraft operations for de-docking, atmospheric re-entry and landing. He was awarded the Russian ‘Soyuz Return Commander’ certificate, which qualifies him to command a three-person Soyuz capsule during its return from space.
In April 2001, Reiter was assigned to the first ISS advanced training class to prepare for one of the first European long-term flights to the ISS. Within the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Exploration he worked in the Columbus programme.
In September 2004, he was assigned to a long-duration mission to the International Space Station.
Between 4 July and 22 December 2006, Reiter took part in the Astrolab Mission - ESA's first long-duration mission to the International Space Station. Following the launch with Space Shuttle Discovery on flight STS-121, Reiter spent 166 days on board ISS as Flight Engineer 2 for ISS Expedition crews 13 and 14.
During his stay, as well as his duties as Flight Engineer, he conducted 19 experiments on behalf of a number of European institutions and research centres, focussing on areas such as human physiology and psychology, microbiology, plasma physics and radiation dosimetry as well as technology demonstrations.
On 3 August 2006, together with NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, he participated in a 5 hour 54 minute spacewalk to install hardware on the ISS exterior to support future assembly work. After 171 days in space, Reiter returned to Earth with STS-116, landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 22 December 2006.
After his active astronaut career, Thomas Reiter was named on 8 August 2007 as a member of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center, DLR, responsible for Space Research and Technology.
Thomas A. Reiter
In 1992, Thomas A. Reiter was selected to join ESA’s European Astronaut Corps, based at the European Astronaut Centre (EAC) in Cologne, Germany. After completing basic training, Reiter was selected for the Euromir 95 mission and started training at TsPK (Cosmonauts Training Centre) in Star City near Moscow in August 1993, preparing for onboard-engineer tasks, extra-vehicular activities and operations of the Soyuz transportation system. The Euromir 95 experiment training was organized and mainly carried out at EAC.
In March 1995, he was assigned as on-board engineer for the Euromir 95 mission, a record-breaking 179 days on ESA's Euromir 95 mission (3 September 1995 until 29 February 1996) with two spacewalks (EVAs).
In the ESA-Russian Euromir 95 mission to the Mir Space Station, along with Russian colleagues Yuri Gidzenko and Serguei Avdee,. Reiter was assigned as on-board engineer for the record-breaking 179 days mission (3 September 1995 until 29 February 1996).
He performed some 40 European scientific experiments and participated in the maintenance of the Mir space station. He performed two spacewalks (EVAs) to install and later retrieve cassettes of the European Space Exposure Facility experiments (ESEF).
Between October 1996 and July 1997, Reiter underwent training on Soyuz-TM spacecraft operations for de-docking, atmospheric re-entry and landing. He was awarded the Russian ‘Soyuz Return Commander’ certificate, which qualifies him to command a three-person Soyuz capsule during its return from space.
In April 2001, Reiter was assigned to the first ISS advanced training class to prepare for one of the first European long-term flights to the ISS. Within the Directorate of Human Spaceflight and Exploration he worked in the Columbus programme.
In September 2004, he was assigned to a long-duration mission to the International Space Station.
Between 4 July and 22 December 2006, Reiter took part in the Astrolab Mission - ESA's first long-duration mission to the International Space Station. Following the launch with Space Shuttle Discovery on flight STS-121, Reiter spent 166 days on board ISS as Flight Engineer 2 for ISS Expedition crews 13 and 14.
During his stay, as well as his duties as Flight Engineer, he conducted 19 experiments on behalf of a number of European institutions and research centres, focussing on areas such as human physiology and psychology, microbiology, plasma physics and radiation dosimetry as well as technology demonstrations.
On 3 August 2006, together with NASA astronaut Jeff Williams, he participated in a 5 hour 54 minute spacewalk to install hardware on the ISS exterior to support future assembly work. After 171 days in space, Reiter returned to Earth with STS-116, landing at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 22 December 2006.
After his active astronaut career, Thomas Reiter was named on 8 August 2007 as a member of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center, DLR, responsible for Space Research and Technology.