List of German astronauts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is a list of German astronauts who have traveled into space, sorted by date of first flight.
As of 2024, twelve Germans have been in space. The first German, and only East German, in space was Sigmund Jähn in 1978. Three astronauts – Ulf Merbold, Reinhard Furrer and Ernst Messerschmid – represented West Germany during the time of divided Germany.
Merbold made two other spaceflights after Germany was reunified in 1990. He is the only German to have been in space three times.
List
| Image | Name | Mission | Mission start | Mission duration | Space station | Mission objectives |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Sigmund Jähn | Soyuz 31 / Soyuz 29 | August 26, 1978 | 7 days | Salyut 6 | Scientific experiments in Salyut 6 |
 |
Ulf Merbold | STS-9 | November 28, 1983 | 10 days | Scientific experiments in the Spacelab Module | |
| STS-42 | January 22, 1992 | 8 days | Scientific experiments in the Spacelab Module | |||
| Soyuz TM-20 / Soyuz TM-19 | October 3, 1994 | 31 days | Mir | |||
 |
Reinhard Furrer | STS-61-A (D1) | October 30, 1985 | 7 days | Scientific experiments in the Spacelab Module, deployment of the Global Low Orbiting Message Relay Satellite (GLOMR) | |
 |
Ernst Messerschmid | STS-61-A (D1) | October 30, 1985 | 7 days | Scientific experiments in the Spacelab Module, deployment of GLOMR | |
 |
Klaus-Dietrich Flade | Soyuz TM-14 / Soyuz TM-13 | March 17, 1992 | 7 days | Mir | |
 |
Hans Schlegel | STS-55 (D2) | April 26, 1993 | 9 days | Scientific experiments in the Spacelab Module | |
| STS-122 | February 7, 2008 | 12 days | ISS | Installation of the Columbus Orbital Facility | ||
 |
Ulrich Walter | STS-55 (D2) | April 26, 1993 | 9 days | Scientific experiments in the Spacelab Module | |
 |
Thomas Reiter | Soyuz TM-22 / Euromir 95 | September 3, 1995 | 179 days | Mir | |
| STS-121 / Expedition 13 / Expedition 14 / STS-116 | July 4, 2006 | 171 days | ISS | |||
 |
Reinhold Ewald | Soyuz TM-25 / Soyuz TM-24 | February 10, 1997 | 19 days | Mir | |
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Gerhard Thiele | STS-99 | February 11, 2000 | 11 days | Shuttle Radar Topography Mission, positioning of several satellites | |
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Alexander Gerst | Soyuz TMA-13M / Expedition 40 / Expedition 41 | May 28, 2014 | 165 days | ISS | |
| Soyuz MS-09 / Expedition 56 / Expedition 57 | June 6, 2018 | 197 days | ISS | |||
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Matthias Maurer | SpaceX Crew-3 / Expedition 66 / Expedition 67 | November 10, 2021 | 190 days | ISS | |
| Rabea Rogge | Fram2 | April 1, 2025 | 4 days | Space Tourist. First German women and first crewed spaceflight to enter a polar retrograde orbit,[1] i.e., to fly over Earth's poles.[2] |
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Amelie Schoenenwald and Nicola Winter were selected in the reserve corps of the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group.[3][4] They are the first women to be selected as astronauts representing Germany, though Rogge became the first German women in space.