Featured Article Summary #59

Ulf Merbold is a German physicist and astronaut who flew to space three times, making history as the first West German and non-American citizen to fly on a NASA spacecraft. He spent a total of 49 days in space, flying on two Space Shuttle missions and a Russian mission to the Mir space station. Merbold's father was imprisoned and died in a special camp during World War II, and he was brought up by his mother and grandparents in East Germany. He left for West Germany in 1960 to study physics after he was not allowed to attend university in East Germany. He joined the European Space Agency in 1977 and trained with NASA to become an astronaut. Merbold performed experiments in materials science and the effects of microgravity on humans on his spaceflights. He retired from ESA in 2004. Ulf Merbold was born in Greiz, Germany in 1941. His father died in a prisoner of war camp in 1948 and his mother was dismissed from her school in 1945. After completing high school, Merbold wanted to study physics at the University of Jena but was not allowed to because he had not joined the Free German Youth. He then obtained a West German high school diploma and started studying physics at the University of Stuttgart. After completing his doctorate, Merbold became a staff member at the Max Planck Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart. In 1973, NASA and the European Space Research Organisation agreed to build a scientific laboratory called Spacelab. In 1977, four astronauts were chosen, including Ulf Merbold, to undergo training for the first Spacelab flight. Merbold did not meet NASA's medical requirements and remained a payload specialist, while the other astronauts completed their mission specialist training. Ulf Merbold flew on the STS-9 mission, becoming the first non-US citizen to fly on a NASA space mission and the first West German citizen in space. The mission involved working in groups of three in 12-hour shifts, conducting experiments and studying the effects of the environment in orbit on humans. Despite some challenges including a jammed hatch and computer malfunctions, the mission was successful and Merbold spoke to President Reagan and Chancellor Kohl in a televised press conference from space. The crew experienced a delayed return to Earth and a small fire during landing, but overall, Merbold was enthusiastic about the mission and post-flight experiments. In 1984, Ulf Merbold became a backup payload specialist for a West German-funded mission called Spacelab D-1. He worked as crew interface coordinator during the mission, supporting the astronauts on board and collaborating with scientists on the ground. After that, Merbold continued his work with ESA and contributed to the plans for the Columbus module of the ISS, serving as head of the German Aerospace Center's astronaut office in 1987 and as science coordinator for the second German Spacelab mission in 1993.