Thomas Reiter, the German member of the Discovery shuttle mission scheduled for liftoff Saturday, is a veteran astronaut of the European Space Agency (ESA) who plays guitar.
The 48-year-old aerospace technology engineer and former German air force pilot will board the International Space Station (ISS) and become the first European to remain there for a long-term mission. Until now, only Russians and Americans conducted six-month missions in the ISS.
Reiter, who was born in Frankfurt, will join American astronaut Jeffrey Williams and Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. The addition of a third crew member will allow the team to spend more time conducting scientific experiments, ISS officials said.
Reiter already has extensive experience in orbit. He spent 179 days, between September 3, 1995 and February 29, 1996, aboard Russia's now-defunct Mir Space Station with Russian colleagues Yuri Gidzenko and Serguei Avdeev. He also performed two spacewalks.
Reiter also participated in ESA studies of the Hermes manned space vehicle and in the development of equipment for the Columbus module, one of the main European contributions to the ISS.
As an air force pilot, he has logged 2,300 flight hours in more than 15 different types of aircraft. He was selected to join ESA's Astronaut Corps based at the European Astronaut Center (EAC) in Cologne, Germany, in 1992.
Reiter has unforgettable memories of his previous space trip.
"The view of the earth is something that stays with you for the rest of your life," he recently told reporters.
The married father of two sons confided that his family has prepared a "little package" for his mission that he can only open once inside the ISS.
For the trip, he is bringing some pictures, a computer disk filled with classical and rock music, and guitar strings. A guitar already awaits Reiter inside the ISS.
Source: Agence France-Presse
