The first German astronaut, Sigmund Jähn was born in the Vogtland.

Ulf Merbold is the West German astronaut who'd made astronomical observations from the space shuttle.

Ulf Merbold, German physicist and the first West German astronaut.

Today's announcement was made during a five-hour space walk by the German astronaut, Thomas Reiter, and his Russian colleague, Sergei Avdeyev.

Hans Schlegel: German astronaut.

Thomas Reiter, a German astronaut aboard the Discovery, officially joined the station's crew, bringing its complement to three for the first time since the Columbia disaster.

Among other agreements, the two governments concluded an agreement in principle to send a West German astronaut to the Mir, the Soviet orbiting space station.

The Russians are scheduled to be replaced by a new crew in early February when a Soyuz spacecraft arrives carrying two Russian astronauts and one German astronaut.

They also carried up a new crew member, Thomas Reiter, a German astronaut from the European Space Agency.

During his 179 days aboard Mir, he carried out two EVAs and became the first German astronaut to perform a spacewalk.