-ESA/DLR: ESA astronaut Gerhard Thiele from Germany assigned to his first flight.

0 Comments | M2 Presswire, October, 1998

M2 PRESSWIRE-29 October 1998-ESA/DLR: ESA astronaut Gerhard Thiele from Germany assigned to his first flight (C)1994-98 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD RDATE:281098 The European Space Agency (ESA) and the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) are pleased to announce the assignment of Gerhard Thiele, as Mission Specialist, to the STS-99 flight.

This Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (X-SAR/SRTM), dedicated to ecological mapping of the Earth's surface, is scheduled for September 1999. Gerhard Thiele, a physicist, was trained as a Payload Specialist by the DLR and was involved in the German D2 mission as member of the back-up crew. During the D2 flight, he was responsible for communications between the astronauts on board the Space Shuttle Columbia and the scientists in the...