Heike John (now Heike Walpot; born 19 June 1960) is a German retired swimmer and former astronaut candidate. She won a bronze medal at the

1977 European Aquatics Championships The 1977 European Aquatics Championships were held at the swimming complex Rosenlundsbadet in the southern Swedish city of Jönköping, from 14 August to 21 August. Besides swimming, there were titles contested in diving, the women's event of sy ...

. She competed at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

in the 100 m and 200 m backstroke events but did not reach the finals. During her career she won five national titles in the 100 m (1977) and 200 m (1977, 1978) backstroke and 200 m medley (1977, 1978). She missed the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

because of their

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent resistance, nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organisation, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for Morality, moral, society, social, politics, political, or Environmenta ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. After her swimming career, she studied

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

RWTH Aachen RWTH Aachen University (), in German ''Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen'', is a German public research university located in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With more than 47,000 students enrolled in 144 study prog ...

and earned a

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 1987. In the same year she was selected as one of five

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

astronaut candidates for the Spacelab D-2 mission, along with

Hans Schlegel Hans Wilhelm Schlegel (Überlingen, 3 August 1951) is a German physicist, a former ESA astronaut, and a veteran of two NASA Space Shuttle missions. Early life and education Schlegel, born and raised in Germany, graduated as an international exc ...

Ulrich Walter Ulrich Hans Walter (born February 9, 1954) is a German physicist, engineer and former DFVLR astronaut. Education Walter was born in Iserlohn. After finishing secondary school there and two years in the Bundeswehr, he studied physics at the Univ ...

Gerhard Thiele Gerhard Paul Julius Thiele (born September 2, 1953) is a German physicist and a former ESA astronaut. He is the father of Die Astronautin candidate Insa Thiele-Eich. Early life and education Born in Heidenheim an der Brenz, he attended the Fri ...

and

Renate Brümmer Renate Luise Brümmer (born 4 May 1955) is a Swiss-born German meteorological scientist and former astronaut. Specialising in satellite meteorology, she was selected as an astronaut in 1987, retiring in 1993, having never been into space. Early ...

. She served as Cap com during the D-2 mission in 1993, but was never assigned to a spaceflight herself. After retiring as an astronaut, she became a professional pilot for

Lufthansa Deutsche Lufthansa AG (), trading as the Lufthansa Group, is a German aviation group. Its major and founding subsidiary airline Lufthansa German Airlines, branded as Lufthansa, is the flag carrier of Germany. It ranks List of largest airlin ...

in 1996 and retired as a Senior First Officer in the Boeing 747 fleet in the mid 2010s. She is married to astronaut

References

External links

Walpot, Heike
at astronautix.com

at spacefacts.de (in German)

at astronaut.ru (in Russian) 1960 births Living people German female backstroke swimmers Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers for West Germany West German female swimmers European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming German astronauts Lufthansa people Sportspeople from Düsseldorf {{Germany-swimming-bio-stub