Staff News
Thomas Reiter appointed Director of Human Spaceflight at ESA:
In March 2011, Thomas Reiter, Executive Board Member for Space Research and Technology at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR), was appointed Director of Human Spaceflight at the European Space Agency ESA. Reiter was elected for four years. In addition, German citizen Prof. Dr Volker Liebig will continue in the post of ESA Director of Earth Observation Programmes EOP for another four years. Thomas Reiter has been a member of the DLR board since 1 October 2007. He graduated with a diploma degree in Aviation and Space Engineering from the University of the German Federal Armed Forces (Universität der Bundeswehr) in Neubiberg near Munich. In addition to his various positions in the German Air Force as a pilot and commander, Reiter was a member of the ESA development team for the Hermes manned spacecraft. In 1992 he was appointed to join ESA's European Astronaut Corps. In March 1995 Thomas Reiter was assigned Flight Engineer for the 179-day Euromir 95 mission to the Russian space station MIR. Between 1999 and 2000, he continued his training at the Russian Cosmonaut Training Centre for the Russian segments of the International Space Station ISS. Between 2001 and 2004, Thomas Reiter worked on the Columbus project team for preparing the European ISS research module. From 4 July to 22 December 2006, Reiter took part in the "Astrolab" mission, the first European long-term mission aboard the International Space Station ISS. During his missions, he performed three ExtraVehicular Activities (EVAs) or, respectively, spacewalks.
