|
GERHARD P.J. THIELE
ESA ASTRONAUT
PERSONAL DATA: Born September 2, 1953, in Heidenheim-Brenz, Germany. Considers Brühl, Nordrhein-Westfalen, to be his hometown. Married. Four children. Recreational interests include cooking, music, reading and sports, especially Badminton. He enjoys his profession, and spending time with his family.
EDUCATION: Completed final high school examination at Friedrich-Schiller-Gymnasium in Ludwigsburg; studied physics at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in Munich, and at Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg,from 1976 to 1982; received his doctorate at the Institute for Environmental Physics of Heidelberg Universität, in 1985.
ORGANIZATIONS: Member of Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society), American Geophysical Union, Weltraumforum Aachen at Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule, Aachen and of the IAA subcommittee on Lunar Development.
SPECIAL HONORS: Research fellowship at Princeton University by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Society) and Princeton University, Federal Service Cross, 1st Class (1993).
EXPERIENCE: Thiele served as a volunteer with the Navy of the German Federal Armed Forces. From 1972 to 1976, he served as Operations/Weapons Officer aboard fast patrol boats. From 1976 to 1982, he studied physics at Ludwig-Maximilians Universität in Munich, and Ruprecht-Karls-Universität in Heidelberg. From 1982 to 1985, while completing his doctoral thesis, Thiele was a research assistant at the Institut für Umweltphysik (Institute for Environmental Physics), Universität of Heidelberg. He then completed post-doctoral research at Princeton University from 1986 to 1987. His main interests in research activities focused on large scale ocean circulation as determined by transient tracer methods to investigate into the role of large scale ocean circulation with respect to climate changes. He has authored and coauthored publications in the field of physical and chemical oceanography. In 1988, Thiele began basic astronaut training at DLR (German Aerospace Research Establishment). Upon completion in 1990, he was assigned to the German D-2 Spacelab Mission. In 1992, he reported to the Johnson Space Center where he trained with the crew back-up Payload Specialist. During the STS-55/ Spacelab D-2 Mission (April 26 to May 6, 1993) Thiele served as Alternate Payload Specialist in the Payload Operations Control Center of DLR at Oberpfaffenhofen. In 1994, he served with the Strategic Planning Group for the Program Director of DLR. Since 1994 he also has served as an active member for the IAA (International Academy of Astronautics) Subcommittee on Lunar Development. In 1995, he was assigned to head the Crew Training Center (CTC) at DLR in Cologne. In July 1996, he was selected by DARA (German Space Agency) and DLR (German Aerospace Research Establishment) to attend NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Training. In August 1998, he joined the European Space Agency (ESA).
NASA EXPERIENCE: Thiele again reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. He completed two years of training and evaluation, and is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. He was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Computer Support Branch. Thiele recently completed his first mission, STS-99, and has logged over 268 hours in space.
SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-99 (February 11-22, 2000) was an 11-day flight during which the international crew aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour worked dual shifts to support payload operations. The Shuttle Radar Topography Mission mapped more than 47 million miles of the Earth’s land surface. The STS-99 mission was accomplished in 181 Earth orbits, traveling over 4 million miles in 268 hours and 38 minutes.
MARCH 2000
|