Reinhold Ewald (born 18 December 1956) is a German physicist and

ESA The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a List of human spaceflight programs, human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member of a spa ...

Biography

Born in

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, ) is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany, west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Netherlands, Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, th ...

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 ...

, he received a

Diploma A diploma is a document awarded by an educational institution (such as a college or university) testifying the recipient has graduated by successfully completing their courses of studies. Historically, it has also referred to a charter or offi ...

in experimental physics from the

University of Cologne The University of Cologne () is a university in Cologne, Germany. It was established in 1388. It closed in 1798 before being re-established in 1919. It is now one of the largest universities in Germany with around 45,187 students. The Universit ...

in 1983 and a Ph.D. in 1986, with a minor degree in human physiology. In 1990, he was selected to the

German astronaut team The German astronaut team was established in 1987. Before the establishment of the team, then-West German astronauts were selected for single missions, or as part of the European Space Agency's crewed spaceflight activities. East Germany had its ...

, training for the

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

'92 mission. He was the backup of

Klaus-Dietrich Flade Klaus-Dietrich Flade (born 23 August 1952) is a German pilot and former German Aerospace Center astronaut who visited the Mir space station in 1992 aboard the Soyuz TM-14 mission, returning to Earth a week later aboard Soyuz TM-13. Biography Bo ...

for the

Soyuz TM-14 Soyuz TM-14 was the 14th expedition to the Mir space station.The full mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-TM14.htm It included an astronaut from Germany, and was the first Russian Soyuz mission after t ...

mission. In 1995 he began training for the second German Mir mission. In February 1997 he flew to the space station Mir with

Soyuz TM-25 Soyuz TM-25 was a crewed Soyuz spaceflight, which launched on February 10, 1997.The mission report is available here: http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-TM-25.htm It transported Russian cosmonauts Vasily Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Lazutkin ...

, spending 20 days in space. He performed experiments in biomedical and material sciences, and carried out operational tests in preparation for the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

. In February 1999, he joined the

European Astronaut Corps The European Astronaut Corps is a unit of the European Space Agency (ESA) that selects, trains, and provides astronauts as crew members on U.S. and Russian space missions. The corps has 13 active members, able to serve on the International Space St ...

at the

European Astronaut Centre The European Astronaut Centre (EAC) (German: Europäisches Astronautenzentrum, French: Centre des astronautes européens), is an establishment of the European Space Agency and home of the European Astronaut Corps. It is near to Cologne, Germany, ...

(EAC) in

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, Germany. From 2006 to 2011, Ewald headed the Flight Operations Division within ESA's ISS Operations department at the Columbus Control Centre near

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. In this role, he directed a team of ESA Mission Directors managing the

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451–1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, the capital city of the U.S. state of Ohio * Columbus, Georgia, a city i ...

laboratory delivery flight in February 2008 and the Columbus science activities thereafter. He served as an Advisor to the Head of Director General's Cabinet at ESA's headquarters in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

from 2011 to 2014, followed by a position at the

in Cologne, promoting the scientific achievements of the ESA research programme on the International Space Station. In September 2015 he was appointed as Professor for Astronautics and Space Stations at the Institute of Space Systems (IRS) at the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

as the successor to Ernst Messerschmid.

References

External links

ESA profile page
on Spacefacts {{DEFAULTSORT:Ewald, Reinhold 1956 births Living people German astronauts 20th-century German explorers ESA astronauts European Space Agency personnel People from Mönchengladbach University of Cologne alumni European amateur radio operators Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Mir crew members Recipients of the Order of Courage (Russia)