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Ulf Merbold

German - (ESA)

Retired

Date of Birth: June 20, 1941
Age: 83


Dr. Ulf Dietrich Merbold (born June 20, 1941) is the first West German citizen and second German native (after Sigmund Jähn) to have flown in space. He is also the first member of the European Space Agency Astronaut Corps to participate in a spaceflight mission and the first non-US citizen to reach orbit in a US spacecraft. In 1983, he and Byron Lichtenberg became the first Payload Specialists to fly on the shuttle.

Space Shuttle Columbia / OV-102 | STS-9

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Nov. 28, 1983, 4 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-9 was the sixth mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia. It launched on a 10 day mission to perform science in space using the Spacelab module.

Low Earth Orbit
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Space Shuttle Discovery / OV-103 | STS-42

National Aeronautics and Space Administration | United States of America
Kennedy Space Center, FL, USA
Jan. 22, 1992, 2:52 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

STS-42 was a Space Shuttle Discovery mission with the Spacelab module. The main goal of the mission was to study the effects of microgravity on a variety of organisms.

Low Earth Orbit
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Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz TM-19

Soviet Space Program | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
July 1, 1994, 12:24 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TM-19 was the 19th mission and the 16th long-duration expedition to Mir space station. The mission began on July 1, 1994, 12:24:50 UTC, launching Commander Yuri Malenchenko and Flight Engineer Talgat Musabayev into orbit. They docked with Mir two days later. During their stay there, cosmonauts performed two EVAs, carried out various scientific experiments in medicine, material sciences, astrophysics etc. Station crew was visited by several Progress resupply spacecrafts, and welcomed aboard the Soyuz TM-20 crew. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on November 4, 1994, 11:18:26 UTC.

Low Earth Orbit
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Soyuz-U2 | Soyuz TM-20

Soviet Space Program | Russia
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
Oct. 3, 1994, 10:42 p.m.
Status: Success
Mission:

Soyuz TM-20 was the 20th mission and the 17th long-duration expedition to Mir space station. The mission began on October 3, 1994, 22:42:30 UTC, launching Commander Alexander Viktorenko, Flight Engineer Yelena Kondakova and Research Cosmonaut Ulf Merbold into orbit. They docked with Mir two days later. During their stay there, cosmonauts performed two EVAs, carried out various scientific experiments. Station crew was visited by several Progress resupply spacecrafts, and welcomed aboard the Soyuz TM-21 crew. During this mission the first rendezvous maneuver of the Space Shuttle STS-63 with the Mir space station was performed. The mission concluded with a safe landing back on Earth on March 22, 1995, 04:04:05 UTC.

Low Earth Orbit
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Director General: Josef Aschbacher

The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,000 employees. ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.


Electron
Success
16 hours, 14 minutes ago
StriX Launch 6
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellites for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Falcon 9
Success
18 hours, 57 minutes ago
Bandwagon 2 (Dedicated Mid-Inclination Rideshare)
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

Dedicated rideshare flight to a mid-inclination orbit with dozens of small microsatellites and nanosatellites for commercial and government customers…


Long March 3
Success
1 day, 15 hours ago
TJSW-12
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Chinese classified satellite claimed to be for communication technology test purposes. Actual mission not known.


Ceres-1S
Success
2 days, 20 hours ago
Tianqi 33-36
Oriental Spaceport mobile launch ship - Sea Launch

4 small satellites for LEO Internet of Things (IoT) communication purposes.


KAIROS
Failure
4 days, 4 hours ago
Flight 2
Space One Launch Pad - Spaceport Kii, Japan

Second flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle. 5 satellites for testing various technologies will be on board: * TATARA-1 * PARUS-T1A * SC-Sat1…