Renate Luise Brümmer (born 4 May 1955) is a Swiss-born German meteorological scientist and former astronaut. Specialising in

satellite meteorology A weather satellite or meteorological satellite is a type of Earth observation satellite that is primarily used to monitor the weather and climate of the Earth. Satellites are mainly of two types: polar orbiting (covering the entire Earth asyn ...

, she was selected as an astronaut in 1987, retiring in 1993, having never been into space.

Early life and education

Brümmer received the equivalent of a Master of Science degree in mathematics and physics from the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich, LMU or LMU Munich; ) is a public university, public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of Ingolstadt in 1472 by Duke ...

in 1981, and a Doctorate from the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

meteorology Meteorology is the scientific study of the Earth's atmosphere and short-term atmospheric phenomena (i.e. weather), with a focus on weather forecasting. It has applications in the military, aviation, energy production, transport, agricultur ...

and

physical oceanography Physical oceanography is the study of physical conditions and physical processes within the ocean, especially the motions and physical properties of ocean waters. Physical oceanography is one of several sub-domains into which oceanography is div ...

in 1986. She had previously qualified as a schoolteacher and taught mathematics and physics at a secondary school. She also held a private pilot's license.^:238

Space career

The

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...

was due to select a group of German scientists to become astronauts for the

Spacelab Spacelab was a reusable laboratory developed by European Space Agency (ESA) and used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory comprised multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier, ...

D2 missions in 1986, following the successful flights of

Ulf Merbold Ulf Dietrich Merbold (; born 20 June 1941) is a German physicist and astronaut who flew to space three times, becoming the first West German citizen in space and the first non-American to fly on a NASA spacecraft. Merbold flew on two Space Shu ...

in 1983 and 1985; this selection was postponed until 1987 after the ''Challenger'' disaster.^:237–238 To select astronauts, a competition was run in 1986, and 1400 people applied; 20% were women.^:279 Brümmer was one of the five people in the first selection to the German astronaut team on 3 August 1987, as a

payload specialist A payload specialist (PS) was an individual selected and trained by commercial or research organizations for flights of a specific payload on a NASA Space Shuttle mission. People assigned as payload specialists included individuals selected by t ...

.^:237 Two of the selection were women, Brümmer and Heike Walpot, Germany's first women astronauts;^:237 neither woman ever went to space. Brümmer completed basic training by 1990 with the rest of the German team, then undertook further mission-specific training across Europe and the United States. The crew for

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

mission STS-55 was selected in early 1992, with Brümmer and Gerhard Thiele being made reserves and trained for both flight and mission control; Walpot was named a crew interface coordinator and only trained for mission control. As part of the Spacelab D2 group training 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 ...

and planning to use the

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

in 1992, Brümmer was initially considered to fly on the Soviet

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 ...

mission that had been scheduled for the same time, which instead went ahead as Soyuz TM-14 with mostly Russian astronauts and Germans selected after the first five.^:224–225 For STS-55, in 1993, she was a reserve astronaut and supported the flying astronauts from the

Oberpfaffenhofen Oberpfaffenhofen is a village that is part of the municipality of Weßling in the district of Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. It is located about from the city center of Munich. Village The village is home to the Oberpfaffenhofen Airport and a ...

control centre during the mission; if she had flown, she would have been the first schoolteacher to orbit Earth.^:238 The German astronaut team was disbanded later in 1993.^:238

Later career

Brümmer is a professional meteorologist; she had been a research associate at the

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University o ...

at the time of her astronaut selection.^:237 After retiring as an astronaut, she returned to

Boulder, Colorado Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...

, to become a researcher at the

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) is an American scientific and regulatory agency charged with Weather forecasting, forecasting weather, monitoring oceanic and atmospheric conditions, Hydrography, charting the seas, ...

.^:238 She joined the

University Corporation for Atmospheric Research The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) is a US nonprofit consortium of more than 100 colleges and universities providing research and training in the atmospheric and related sciences. UCAR manages the National Center for Atmosph ...

(CIRA) in 1995 at Colorado-Boulder. Initially, she worked as part of the GLOBE Program and in running the FX-Net project to deliver forecasting interfaces over the Internet. In the 2010s, she began working as a coordinator for the Regional and Mesoscale Meteorology Branch, researching satellite applications.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brümmer, Renate 1955 births Women astronauts German astronauts 20th-century German explorers Swiss astronauts Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science alumni Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich alumni Colorado State University faculty People from St. Gallen (city) People from Boulder, Colorado Living people