Thomas Arthur Reiter (born 23 May 1958 in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

) is a retired European astronaut and is a

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

in the German Air Force currently working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General at the European Space Agency (ESA). He was one of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space. With his wife and two sons he lives near Oldenburg in Lower Saxony.

Education

He graduated from Goethe-High School in

Neu-Isenburg Neu-Isenburg is a town in Germany, located in the Offenbach district of Hesse. It is part of the Frankfurt Rhein-Main urban area and has a population of 38,204 (2020). The town is known nowadays mainly for its regionally used shopping centre, th ...

in 1977. In 1982, Reiter received his diploma in aerospace engineering from the Bundeswehr University Munich. In 2010 the university awarded him an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

degree. He completed his training as a

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

in Germany and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

Astronaut career

He served as an onboard engineer for the

Euromir Euromir was an international space programme in the 1990s. Between the Russian Federal Space Agency and the European Space Agency (ESA), it would bring European astronauts to the Mir space station. Euromir was part of a drive in the early 1990 ...

95/

Soyuz TM-22 Soyuz TM-22 was a Soyuz spaceflight to the Soviet space station Mir.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-tm22.htm It launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome Launch Pad 1 on September 3, 1995. After two d ...

mission to the

Mir ''Mir'' (russian: Мир, ; ) was a space station that operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, operated by the Soviet Union and later by Russia. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to&n ...

space station. During his 179 days aboard Mir, he carried out two EVAs and became the first German astronaut to perform a spacewalk. Between 1996 and 1997, he underwent additional training on the Soyuz spacecraft and was awarded a "Soyuz Return Commander" certificate, qualifying him to command a three-person Soyuz crew during its return from space. He trained for a six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and was selected for the Space Shuttle ''Discovery''

STS-121 STS-121 was a 2006 NASA Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by . The main purposes of the mission were to test new safety and repair techniques introduced following the ''Columbia'' disaster of February 2003 as w ...

mission to join

Expedition 13 Expedition 13 was the 13th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS), and launched at 02:30 UTC on 30 March 2006. The expedition used the Soyuz TMA-8 spacecraft, which stayed at the station for the duration of the expedition for emerge ...

. The launch was initially scheduled for 1 July 2006, but was due to weather delays eventually conducted on 4 July 2006. ''Discovery'' then departed on 15 July, leaving Reiter on the ISS continuing to work on Expedition 13. He later became part of

Expedition 14 Expedition 14 was the 14th expedition to the International Space Station (ISS). Commander Michael López-Alegría, and flight engineer Mikhail Tyurin launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome on 18 September 2006, 04:09 UTC, aboard Soyuz TMA-9. They joi ...

before returning to Earth, again aboard ''Discovery'' during the

STS-116 STS-116 was a Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station (ISS) flown by Space Shuttle '' Discovery''. ''Discovery'' lifted off on 9 December 2006 at 20:47:35 EST. A previous launch attempt on 7 December had been canceled due to cl ...

mission. Reiter returned after 171 days in space, therefore having been in orbit twice, each time for almost half a year. His ISS mission was designated ''Astrolab'' by the European Space Agency. On 8 August 2007 Thomas Reiter was named a member of DLR's executive board. From 1 April 2011 to December 2015 he was Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations at the European Space Agency (ESA), responsible for all crewed and uncrewed mission operations. This included the operation and exploitation of the European International Space Station elements, ESA's

Automated Transfer Vehicle The Automated Transfer Vehicle, originally Ariane Transfer Vehicle or ATV, was an expendable cargo spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), used for space cargo transport in 2008–2015. The ATV design was launched to orbit fiv ...

, the responsibility for the European Astronaut Centre, EAC, and ESA's uncrewed missions and ground-based mission infrastructure. Today he is working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General.

Honours and awards

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

(2007) * Bavarian Medal Europe (2008) * Honorary doctorate of the Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the Bundeswehr University Munich (28 June 2010) *

Order of Friendship The Order of Friendship (russian: Орден Дружбы, ') is a state decoration of the Russian Federation established by Boris Yeltsin by presidential decree 442 of 2 March 1994 to reward Russian and foreign nationals whose work, deeds ...

(Russia, 1996) *

Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" The Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (russian: Медаль "За заслуги в освоении космоса") is a state decoration of the Russian Federation aimed at recognising achievements in the space program. It was established ...

(Russia, 12 April 2011) – for outstanding contribution to the development of international cooperation in crewed space flight * Honorary membership in the

Danish Astronautical Society The Danish Astronautical Society was inaugurated on 20 September 1949, and its prime focus is spreading knowledge and information about spaceflight and space science. The Danish Astronautical Society participated in founding the International Astro ...

Official website of Danish Astronautical Society

References

External links

ESA profile page

www.astronaut-thomas-reiter.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Reiter, Thomas 1958 births Living people Military personnel from Frankfurt German astronauts ESA astronauts European amateur radio operators Crew members of the International Space Station Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" Bundeswehr University Munich alumni German Air Force pilots Brigadier generals of the German Air Force Space Shuttle program astronauts People from Oldenburg (city) Spacewalkers Mir crew members