Circle Image

Franz Viehböck

Austrian - (ALR)

Retired

Date of Birth: Aug. 24, 1960
Age: 65


Franz Artur Viehböck (born August 24, 1960 in Vienna) is an Austrian electrical engineer, and was Austria's first cosmonaut. He was titulated „Austronaut“ by his country's media. He visited the Mir space station in 1991 aboard Soyuz TM-13, returning aboard Soyuz TM-12 after spending just over a week in space.

Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz TM-12

Soviet Space Program | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
May 18, 1991, 12:50 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TM-12 was the 12th mission and the ninth long-duration expedition to Mir space station. The mission began on May 18, 1991, 12:50:28 UTC, launching Commander Anatoly Artsebarsky, Flight Engineer Sergei Krikalyov and Research Cosmonaut Helen Sharman, the first British cosmonaut, into orbit. They docked with Mir two days later. During their stay there, cosmonauts performed EVAs, various station repair and maintenance tasks, and carried out scientific experiments in biology, geophysics, space technology, astronomy etc. They were visited by several Progress resupply spacecrafts and welcomed aboard the Soyuz TM-13 crew. Helen Sharman returned on May 26, 1991, in Soyuz TM-11 spacecraft. While Sergei Krikalyov stayed on the station as a part of the next long-duration expedition, Anatoly Artsebarsky landed safely back on Earth on October 10, 1991, 04:12:18 UTC.

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz TM-13

Soviet Space Program | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Oct. 2, 1991, 5:59 a.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TM-13 was the 13th mission and the tenth long-duration expedition to Mir space station. The mission began on October 2, 1991, 05:59:38 UTC, launching Commander Alexander Volkov, Research Cosmonaut/Flight Engineer Toktar Aubakirov and Research Cosmonaut Franz Viehböck, the first Austrian cosmonaut, into orbit. They docked with Mir two days later. During their stay there, cosmonauts performed EVAs, various station repair and maintenance tasks, and carried out scientific experiments in biology, geophysics, space technology, astronomy etc. They were visited by several Progress resupply spacecrafts, and welcomed aboard the Soyuz TM-14 crew. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on March 25, 1992, 08:51:22 UTC.

Low Earth Orbit
Explore Share

Administrator: Andreas Geisler

The Austrian Space Agency was founded in 1972 and joined the ESA as a member in 1987. In 2005, control of the ALR was transferred to the Austrian Agency for Aerospace. They coordinated the first flight of an Austrian in space with a Soyuz launch in 1990.


Ariane 64
Success
1 day, 19 hours ago
Amazon Leo (LE-03)
Ariane Launch Area 4 - Guiana Space Centre, French Guiana

Amazon Leo, formerly known as Project Kuiper, is a mega constellation of satellites in Low Earth Orbit that will offer broadband internet access, thi…


Falcon 9
Success
2 days ago
BlueBird Block 2 #3-5
Space Launch Complex 40 - Cape Canaveral SFS, FL, USA

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Kuaizhou 11
Success
2 days, 3 hours ago
CentiSpace-1 Group 05
Launch Area 95A - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Note: Unofficial reports indicate there may be 1 or more additional satellites that failed to separate from the upper stage, however this is not offi…


Long March 12
Success
2 days, 4 hours ago
SatNet LEO Group 22
Commercial LC-2 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Long March 3B/E
Success
2 days, 21 hours ago
Shijian 31
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Classified experimental Chinese satellite of unknown purposes (officially described for "spatial environment detection" purposes).