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ESA Photo |
Thomas Arthur REITER
ISS Flight Engineer – 2,
Lieutenant-Colonel of the Air Force, Germany
ESA Astronaut, Germany
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:
Born 23 May, 1958, in Frankfurt/Main, Land Hessen, FRG.
EDUCATION: He graduated from Goethe-High School in Neu-Isenburg
in June 1977, from the Armed Forces University in Neubiberg
in December 1982 and received a master of science degree
in aerospace engineering.
In December 1992 he graduated from the Empire Test Pilots
School in Boscombe Down, England.
FAMILY STATUS: Married.
Wife: Consuela Koestermann. They have two sons: Daniel,
born in 1992, and Sebastian, born in 1997.
HOBBY: He enjoys fencing and badminton, cooking and playing
the guitar.
WORK EXPERIENCE: After completion of military jet training
at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, Thomas was qualified
as a pilot and flow the Alpha-Jet in a fighter-bomber squadron
based in Oldenburg, Germany. He was engaged in the development
of computerized mission planning systems and became a flight-operations
officer and deputy squadron commander.
In 1990 he completed the test-pilot training at the German
flight test center in Manching and was qualified as Class
2 test pilot. The following year he was involved in several
flight test projects and conversion training on the Tornado
fighter-bomber.
In December 1992 he was qualified as Class 1 test pilot.
His flight experience includes more than 2300 hours in
military combat jet aircraft of more than 15 types.
Thomas Reiter participated in European Space Agency (ESA)
studies of the advanced manned space vehicle (Hermes) and
development of equipment for the Columbus module, one of
Europe's contribution to the International Space Station.
In 1992 he was selected to ESA's Astronaut Corps. From
January to July 1993 he passed general space training at
the European Astronaut Center in Cologne, Germany.
On May 7, 1993 he was assigned for the Euromir 95 mission
under the Russian-European program.
From August 1993 to July 1994 he completed basic training
at Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center including preparation
for extra-vehicular activities and operations of the Soyuz
transportation system.
From August 1994 to March 1995 he passed training as a
member of the group.
On March 17, 1995 he was assigned to the prime crew (together
with Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Avdeev) for Expedition-20
to the Mir Orbital Complex.
From March 30 to August 11, 1995 he passed direct training
for a flight within the crew.
He performed the first space flight from
September 3, 1995 to February 29, 1996 as flight engineer-2
of the Soyuz TM-22 spacecraft and Mir Orbital Complex as
a participant of Expedition-20 together with Yu. P. Gidzenko
and S. V. Avdeev. During the flight he performed two EVAs
of the total duration of 8 hr 22 min. The flight duration
was 179 days 01 hr 42 min.
From October 1996 to July 1997 he passed training at Yu.
A. Gagarin CTC where he was engaged in the Soyuz-TM spacecraft
operations during the return from space. Upon completion
of studies he was the first from foreign astronauts who
was qualified as commander of the Soyuz TM capsule.
From September 1997 to March 1999, Reiter was detached
to the German Air Force as Operational Group Commander
of a Tornado fighterbomber wing.
On April 1, 1999 he resumed his work at the European Astronaut
Center in Cologne, Germany.
From June 1999 to March 2000 he passed training at Yu.
A. Gagarin CTC where he prepared for the ISS Russian Segment
operations but in January-February 2003 he passed a two-month
special course under a program for the Soyuz TMA spacecraft
commander during the return.
In April 2001 he was assigned to pass training for a flight
as a member of a long-duration Expedition onboard the ISS.
In September 2004 he was assigned to perform a long-term
flight onboard the ISS.
He began to perform his second space flight on
July 4, 2006 as a flight specialist of the Discovery shuttle
(STS-121). On July 6 the shuttle docking to the ISS occurred
and Thomas Reiter started to work as flight engineer-2
of Expedition-13 onboard the ISS together with P. Vinogradov
(Russia) and D. Williams (USA). During the flight he performed
one EVA of the duration of 5 hr 54 min.
September 2006
Based on the ESA data.
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