Furrer Credit - www.spacefacts.de

Personal: Male, unmarried. Born in Woergl, Austria. Airplane crash. PhD

Astronaut Career

Astronaut Group: Payload Specialist. Deceased Entered space service: 19 December 1982. Left space service: 6 November 1985. Number of Flights: 1.00. Total Time: 7.03 days.

NAME: Prof. Dr. Reinhard Furrer

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH: November 25, 1940 in Woergl, Austria

MARITAL STATUS: Single

EDUCATION:Realgymnasim (High School) in Kempten. Diploma in Physics after studying at universities in Kiel and Berlin in 1969. Doctorate in Physics, Free University of Berlin, 1972.

EXPERIENCE: Research Associate at the Institute of Atomic and Solid State Physics of the Free University of Berlin. Group leader in the research project "Hyperfine Interaction" (SFB 161). From 1974 Assistant Professor of Physics.

In 1981 chosen as astronaut for a German-sponsored Spacelab mission. Flew on October 30 - November 6, 1985, as a member of the astronaut crew of the German Spacelab Mission D1. From 1987 Professor and Managing Director of the Institute of Space Science at the Free University of Berlin. From 1987 also Director of the Berlin Space Institute (WIB Weltraum-Institut Berlin GmbH) and SpaceTech GmbH.

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH: Atomic Physics (highly ionised noble gases), solid-state Physics (ionic single crystals and organic crystals). Chemical Physics and Photo-physics (solid-state photo reactions, photo-synthesis), Biophysics (structural analysis of enzymes), microgravity effects in the fields of Physics, Biology and Medicine. Development and conception of space experiments.

DEATH: Professor Furrer died in an airplane crash on September 9, 1995.

• 30 October 1985 Flight: STS-61-A. Flight Up: STS-61-A. Flight Back: STS-61-A. Flight Time: 7.03 days.

30 October 1985 - STS-61-A. Manned eight crew. Launched GLOMR; carried Spacelab D1. Payloads: Spacelab D-1 with habitable module and 76 experiments. Six of the eight crew members were divided into a blue and red team working 12-hour shifts for 24-hour-a-day operation. The remaining two crew members were 'switch hitters.'.