SIGMUND JäHN

'Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn' (born February 13, 1937) was the first German cosmonaut.
He was born in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, Vogtland, Germany.
From 1943 to 1951 he attended school in his hometown, and after school trained as a printer.
In 1955 he joined the East German air force (the Luftstreitkräfte der NVA) where he became a pilot and military scientist.
From 1966-1970 he studied at the Gagarin Military Air Academy in Monino, in the Soviet Union, and afterwards worked in the administration of the East German air force, responsible for pilot education and flight safety.
In 1976 he was selected together with his later backup Eberhard Köllner to train as the first cosmonaut in the Intercosmos program.
He trained in Star City near Moscow for the next two years, and finally flew on board Soyuz 31 to the Soviet space station Salyut 6, and returned with Soyuz 29. For this flight, he was celebrated as the first ''German'' cosmonaut, which is remarkable as in those days, both East and West Germany normally stressed that people who achieved similar deeds were citizens of their respective states.
He spent 7 days, 20 hours, and 49 minutes in space.
Sigmund Jähn was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on September 3 1978 ^[1] In 1983 he received a doctorate in physics at the "Zentralinstitut für Physik der Erde" in Potsdam, specialising in remote sensing of the earth.
Starting in 1990, (after reunification) he worked as a freelance consultant for the (formerly West) German spaceflight agency DLR, and from 1993 also for the ESA to prepare for the Euromir missions.
In 2002 he finally retired from this job.
Sigmund Jähn is married and has two children. He enjoys reading and hunting.
Asteroid 17737 was named ''Sigmund Jähn'' in 2001.
Jähn was a part of the plot of the movie Good Bye Lenin!.

Contents

Quotes

Reference

External link

Quotes

★ ''Dear TV viewers in the German Democratic Republic. I am very happy for the chance to be the first German to take part in this manned space flight.'' (during his space flight)

★ ''Mankind is advanced technically. Man can build space stations, can assemble them in space, and ponders about landing on Mars, but the development of mankind itself seems to stagnate on stone age level.'' (radio broadcast in the 1990s)

★ ''..what I saw then was total happiness: Our Earth, in shining in bright blue. Just like a dream.'' (SUPERillu magazine interview, 1998)

★ ''As pilot I just could not resist the offer to fly a space capsule...'' (speech in front of DLR audience, 2005)

Reference

1. Biography at the website on Heroes of the Soviet Union and Russia

External link

★ Spacefacts biography of Sigmund Jähn