Ewald Credit: www.spacefacts.de |
Status: Inactive; Active 1990-2002Ret. 3. Born: 1956-12-18. Spaceflights: 1 . Total time in space: 19.69 days. Birth Place: Moenchengladbach.
Educated Cologne.
Reinhold Ewald
BIRTHPLACE AND DATE: Moenchengladbach, Germany, 18 December 1956.
EDUCATION: Reinhold Ewald received a Bachelor of Science degree in Physics from the University of Cologne in 1977 and a Master of Science degree in Experimental Physics in 1983. He graduated in 1986 with a PhD in Physics and a minor degree in human physiology.
FAMILY: Married, three children.
RECREATIONAL INTERESTS: Ewald enjoys reading and spending time with his family, and performs with an amateur theatre group. He also plays soccer and holds a black belt in karate.
ORGANISATIONS: Member of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physics Society) and the Association of Space Explorers.
EXPERIENCE: From 1983-1987 Reinhold Ewald was a research scientist with the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German academic research federation) on a special research project to assemble and exploit a three-metre radiotelescope for the University of Cologne. His research topics were the structure and dynamics of interstellar molecular clouds which are thought to be the birthplace of new stars. The telescope was later installed at the Gornergrat Observatory at an altitude of 3100 metres in the High Alps, near Zermatt, Switzerland.
In 1987 Ewald joined DLR (now the German Aerospace Centre). He managed several projects in extraterrestrial science, including an airborne stratospheric observatory called SOFIA, and various experiments launched on sounding rockets from ESRANGE in northern Sweden. He then became the coordinator for spaceflight in DLR's planning department.
In 1990 he joined the German national astronaut team and took up training for the German-Russian MIR'92 mission at the Cosmonaut Training Centre (TsPK) in Star City, Russia. As the back-up astronaut for the flight (17-25 March 1992), he served as Crew Interface Coordinator at the Russian mission control centre (TsUP) in Kaliningrad, providing communications between the crew in orbit and the project management and scientists on the ground involved in the mission.
After the mission, he returned to Germany as the Deputy Head of DLR's Astronaut Office and supported the D-2/Spacelab mission on board the US Space Shuttle (April-May 1993). In addition, he provided commentary on the mission from the German payload control centre in Oberpfaffenhofen for DLR's televised coverage broadcast in Germany during the flight.
In 1993 Ewald was appointed Assistant to the Director of DLR's Space Programme. In this capacity he was responsible for extraterrestrial, spaceflight and microgravity programmes.
In 1995 he returned to Star City, Russia, to train for the second German-Russian mission on board Mir, named MIR'97. From 10 February to 2 March 1997, he flew as a research cosmonaut on the Russian Soyuz vehicle and spent 18 days on board the Mir space station performing experiments in biomedical and material sciences and carrying out operational tests in preparation for the International Space Station.
Since 1998 Reinhold Ewald has also been lecturing part-time on spaceflight operations at the Technical University of Munich.
In February 1999 he joined ESA's European astronaut corps. The German and other national astronaut programmes are being merged with the ESA programme to form a single European corps that will prepare for mission opportunities available to ESA as the European partner in the International Space Station.
SPECIAL HONOURS: Reinhold Ewald received the Russian "Order of Friendship" in 1992 and the Russian "Medal for Personal Courage" in 1997, awarded by President Yeltsin of the Russian Federation. He was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit (First Class) in 1997.
CURRENT ASSIGNMENT: Reinhold Ewald is involved in Europe's preparations for the International Space Station, preparing and implementing the training infrastructure for ESA's Space Station elements and payloads. He is stationed at ESA's European Astronaut Centre, the astronaut corps' home base in Cologne, Germany.
ESA astronauts will be involved in the assembly and on-board operations of the International Space Station, a multinational, permanently-inhabited research facility currently being assembled in Earth orbit.