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NAME: Ulf Merbold (Ph.D.)
ESA Astronaut
PERSONAL DATA: Born June 20, 1941, in Greiz, Germany. Married. Two children. He enjoys sports, mainly glider flying, wind surfing and skiing. He also enjoys music and photography.
EDUCATION: From 1948-1960 attended various schools in Greiz, Germany. Final high school examination at Theodor Neubauer-Oberschule in Greiz in 1960. Supplementary matriculation at Falk-Schule, Berlin, in 1961. Studied physics at Stuttgart University from 1961-1968, earning a diploma in 1968. Doctorate in science (Dr. rer. nat.) at Stuttgart University for an experiment "investigation of the radiation damage of nitrogen-doped iron after neutron irradiation by means of residual resistivity measurements.
ORGANIZATIONS: Dr. Merbold is a member of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society), the International Academy of Astronautics, the Association of European Astronauts, and the Association of Space Explorers. He is an honorary member of Hermann-Oberth-Gesellschaft, and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft-und Raumfahrt (German Society for Flight and Spaceflight).
AWARDS: Bundesverdienstkreuz first class; Verdienstorden des Landes Baden-Württemberg, Verdienstorden des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, NASA Space Flight Medal, Haley Space Flight Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Diplome pilote-cosmonaute de 1 USSR V.M. Komarov of the Federation Aeronautique International. Award for special scientific achievements in the field of aerospace medicine of "Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Luft-und Ramfahrt." 1983 Flight Achievement Award of the American Astronautical Society.
LICENSES: Private Pilot's license, including instrument rating and aerobatics. Glider License. Has logged more than 2000 hours.
PUBLICATIONS: In addition to scientific publications, Dr. Merbold is the author of Flug ins All (Flight Into Space), Lubbe Verlag, 1968, and Coauthor of D-1, Unser Weg ins All (D-1, Our Way Into Space), Westermann 1985.
EXPERIENCE: After finishing university, Dr. Merbold joined the Max-Planck-Institute for Metals Research in Stuttgart, first on the basis of a scholarship of the Max-Planck-Society, later as a staff member. Main fields: solid state physics and low temperature physics. Own research work: Experimental investigations of lattice defects in body-cubic centered metals (iron and vanadium). It could be demonstrated that some kinds of radiation induced intrinsic defects in bcc lattices cause an attractive interaction with interstitial impurity atoms like nitrogen atoms. As a result, complexes of impurity atoms and intrinsic defects are formed.
In 1977, Dr. Merbold was pre-selected by the European Space Agency (ESA) as a Payload Specialist for Spacelab-1 from about 1800 applicants. In 1978, Dr. Merbold was nominated as one of the three payload specialists for Spacelab-1 by ESA. In September 1982, he was selected for flight by the Director General of ESA who, in doing so, followed a recommendation of the Principal Investigators, the scientists involved in the mission.
As the first non-American, Dr. Merbold participated in Shuttle Mission STS-9 Columbia (November 28, 1983 to December 8, 1983). Commander John Young, Pilot Brewster Shaw, mission specialists Dr. Owen Garriott and Dr. Robert Parker and the scientist Byron Lichtenberg were the other members of the Spacelab-1 flight crew aboard Columbia. Primary objective was the execution of 72 highly sophisticated scientific experiments, representing 8 different disciplines (Astronomy, Atmospheric physics, earth observation, life sciences, physiology, material science, plasma physics and solar physics). For the first time the orbit was inclined 57 degrees in respect to the equatorial plane; for the first time the mission was executed in two shifts. At the conclusion of the STS-9 mission, Dr. Merbold had traveled 3.3 million miles in 148 Earth orbits, logging over 247 hours in space.
In 1984, Dr. Merbold became involved in the D-1 Mission, primarily to utilize his flight experience during the final phase of mission preparation. During the D-1 Mission (November 1985), Dr. Merbold served in the Ground Control Center in Oberpfaffenhofen as a "Crew Interface Coordinator." His main functions were the communication with the payload crew in orbit and the coordination of their work. In addition, Dr. Merbold participated in the entire D-1 training in order to provide redundancy as a backup scientist astronaut.
In 1986, Dr. Merbold was transferred to the European Space Technology Center (ESTEC) in Noordwijk, Holland, in order to support ESA in the planning of Columbus, the European contribution to the Space Station.
On September 1, 1987, Dr. Merbold was appointed as Head of the DLR Astronaut Office, while continuing to remain an ESA staff member.
In December 1988, Dr. Merbold was nominated as payload specialist candidate for IML-1. In April 1989, he started IML-1 training.
Dr. Merbold served on the crew of STS-42/IML-1 Discovery (January 22-30, 1992). Fifty-five major experiments conducted in the International Microgravity Laboratory-1 module were provided by investigators from eleven countries, and represented a broad spectrum of scientific disciplines. During 128 orbits of the Earth, the seven-person crew accomplished the mission's primary objective of investigating the effects of microgravity on materials processing and life sciences. In this unique laboratory in space, the crew worked around-the-clock in two shifts. Experiments investigated the microgravity effects on the growth of protein and semiconductor crystals. Biological experiments on the effects of zero gravity on plants, tissues, bacteria, insects and human vestibular response were also conducted. Mission duration was 193 hours, 14 minutes and 45 seconds.
Dr. Merbold had logged over 441 hours in space. He is the first ESA Payload Specialist to fly twice.
FEBRUARY 1992
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