Reinhard Alfred Furrer (1940-1995)

[Orionid]

Reinhard Alfred Furrer (25.11.1940-09.09.1995)

Dziś mija 25 lat od czasu, kiedy to formalnie 3. Niemiec w kosmosie Reinhard Alfred Furrer zginął w katastrofie lotniczej w Berlinie.

188. człowiek w kosmosie oraz 3. Niemiec.

Odbył 1 lot kosmiczny jako specjalista ładunku Spacelab D1:
30.10.1985-06.11.1985 STS-61A Challenger/F-9 007:00:44:51

https://www.esa.int/Space_in_Member_States/Germany/Biografie_von_Reinhard_Furrer

http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/furrer_reinhard.htm
http://www.astronautix.com/f/furrer.html
https://www.worldspaceflight.com/bios/f/furrer-r.php

https://mek.kosmo.cz/bio/ostatni/00188.htm
http://www.kozmo-data.sk/kozmonauti/furrer-reinhard-alfred.html
https://www.astronaut.ru/crossroad/188.htm
https://www.april12.eu/otherastron/furrer188ru.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Furrer
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Furrer
https://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Furrer













Reinhard Furrer, German Astronaut, 54
By The Associated Press Sept. 12, 1995

Reinhard Furrer, a German astronaut who took part in the last successful mission of the space shuttle Challenger, died on Friday in a plane crash. He was 54.

Mr. Furrer and the pilot of a Messerschmitt 108, a World War II-era light plane, were killed when the vintage aircraft crashed into a field after takeoff at an air show at Berlin's Johannisthal airfield.

Mr. Furrer was one of the first German astronauts to work with NASA and the third German in space. He helped operate Spacelab D1, a West German-financed payload aboard the October 1985 Challenger mission that was the first purely German research mission in space.

Since 1974 Mr. Furrer had taught space science at the Free University of Berlin.
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/09/12/obituaries/reinhard-furrer-german-astronaut-54.html

[Orionid]

STS-61B Atlantis Launch, November 26, 1985
Air Force Space & Missile Museum Foundation


Four out of eight crew members of the STS-61 are still alive
1409 wyświetleń•25 sie 2014

[Orionid]

Reinhard  Furrer


Rein­hard Al­fred Fur­rer Credit: DLR (CC-BY 3.0)

"I'll be flying on that," is what Reinhard Furrer said in 1978, before applying to the German Test and Research Institute for Aviation and Spaceflight (Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchsanstalt für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DFVLR – a precursor of present-day DLR) to become a research astronaut on the first German Spacelab mission, executed with NASA. He was proved correct: the Austrian left behind 699 rivals, although, as a bachelor, he did not hold the strongest hand. The Americans preferred family men on their missions as they were thought to be better adjusted to the tasks in question.

Reinhard Furrer was the third German astronaut to fly into space. Born on 25 November 1940 in Wörgl, Austria, he studied physics, first at the University of Kiel (Universität Kiel) then at the Free University of Berlin (Freie Universität Berlin). After receiving his doctorate in 1972, he worked as an assistant professor in Stuttgart beginning 1974, before being granted full professorship in 1979.

Furrer commenced training as a scientific astronaut in 1983 alongside Ulf Merbold, Ernst Messerschmid and Dutchman Wubbo Ockels. Messerschmid and Ockels were later to accompany him on the Spacelab D1 mission. Initially, the prospective astronauts had to contend with a comprehensive training regime. Furrer, a physicist, had to immerse himself in medical matters at the same time as he was being introduced to space travel; these included, for example, being able to insert needles and measure blood pressure.

After two years of preparation the Spacelab D1 mission was ready. Furrer lifted off on 30 October 1985 aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. On board were five Americans, including the pilots. Furrer, Messerschmid and Ockels flew as payload specialists and performed a total of 76 experiments in the European Spacelab research module during their week-long stay in space. Amongst other research, Furrer examined the effects of gravity in material processing and on the human body. The astronauts worked 18-hour days so as to be able to perform the large number of experiments in the short time frame. Repeating experiments was scarcely possible and there was no margin for error.

Furrer and Messerschmid were not the only ones having a challenging time. The German Space Operations Center (GSOC), on the DFVLR site at Oberpfaffenhofen, was overseeing its single most complex assignment to date – the first German national Spacelab mission in the American Space Shuttle. The two astronauts were not alone in gaining international fame following the successful mission – Oberpfaffenhofen became known as the 'Bavarian Houston'.

Furrer became a professor and director of the newly-founded Institute for Space Sciences at the Free University of Berlin. Privately, Furrer – an avid pilot who had received his first pilot's license in 1974 – undertook many flights in single-engine sports aircraft, for instance, over Greenland’s ice sheet and solo from Germany to Quito, Ecuador. Furrer died on 9 September 1995 in a plane crash during a flight show at the Johannisthal Airfield, Berlin.

https://www.dlr.de/content/en/articles/missions-projects/german-astronauts/reinhard-furrer.html

[Orionid]

Spacelab D1 mission – 25 years ago
26/10/2010

(...) Called the Spacelab D1 mission, it was the first to have German mission management and to be controlled from the German Space Operations Centre of the German Institute of Aviation and Spaceflight Research and Development (DFVLR, a precursor of present-day DLR) at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich.

Wubbo Ockels became the second ESA astronaut and the first Dutch citizen in space (not the first Dutch-born astronaut, he was preceded by naturalised American Lodewijk van den Berg, who flew into space five months earlier). Messerschmid and Furrer became the joint third German astronauts in space (after Sigmund Jaehn and Ulf Merbold). (...)
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_history/Spacelab_D1_mission_25_years_ago

REINHARD FURRER

(...) Er starb am 9. September 1995 bei einem Flugzeugabsturz während einer Flugshow auf dem Flugplatz Johannisthal in Berlin, bei der er Ehrengast war. Nach Ende des offiziellen Programms wollte er am Rundflug mit einer historischen Messerschmitt Bf 108 teilnehmen. Nach einer in zu geringer Höhe ausgeführten Kunstflugfigur (Rolle) stürzte die Maschine ab, Pilot Gerd Kahdemann und Reinhard Furrer waren sofort tot. Es konnte nicht geklärt werden, wer die Maschine geflogen hatte, weil die Maschine ein Doppelsteuer hatte. (...)
https://physik.cosmos-indirekt.de/Physik-Schule/Reinhard_Furrer

http://dbpedia.org/page/Reinhard_Furrer

https://www.catawiki.com/l/27302897-two-german-astronauts-in-shuttle-spacelab-four-photos-and-press-kit-kodak-photo-paper

[Orionid]

Dziś przypada 81. rocznica urodzin trzeciego Niemca w kosmosie.

#ASEspotlight: Reinhard Furrer
STS-61-A Payload Specialist Furrer (left) and STS-42 Payload Specialist Ulf Merbold experienced weightlessness aboard @NASA's KC-135 aircraft in Oct. 1988.
Fun fact: He enjoyed open water dives!
Today, we remember Reinhard on his birthday.

https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1463923011577331715
http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/international/english/furrer_reinhard.htm

https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1728428595960238582

[Orionid]

Wczoraj przypadła 85. rocznica urodzin astronauty

ASE at the 36th Planetary Congress in São Paulo @ASE_Astronauts 3:00 AM · Nov 26, 2025
#ASEspotlight: Reinhard Furrer 🌠
ASE member Furrer (left) glanced at the camera while looking through files inside the Spacelab module aboard Space Shuttle Challenger in 1985.
Fun fact: He held many sailing licenses!
Today, we remember Reinhard on his 85th birthday. ✨

https://twitter.com/ASE_Astronauts/status/1993500097665978505