Gerhard Paul Julius Thiele
Gerhard Paul Julius Thiele is a German physicist, former naval officer, and ESA astronaut who flew on STS-99, the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission. His spaceflight work connected astronaut operations with Earth science, radar mapping, and international shuttle research.
- Born
- September 2, 1953
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Heidenheim an der Brenz, Baden-Württemberg,West Germany
Flights
1
Spacewalks
N/A
EVA time
N/A
In space
11 days, 5 hours, 39 minutes
Bio
Thiele studied physics at the University of Munich and the University of Heidelberg, earning a doctorate in environmental science in 1985. Before his scientific career fully developed, he also served in the German Navy as an operations and weapons officer aboard fast patrol boats.
Germany selected Thiele for astronaut training in 1988. He backed up the German Spacelab D-2 mission, later trained as a NASA , and joined ESA's astronaut corps after the German national team was integrated into ESA.
On STS-99 in 2000, Thiele helped operate Endeavour's radar-mapping payload during a mission that produced one of the most important global elevation datasets ever gathered from orbit. After leaving flight status, he remained active in European space policy and human-spaceflight planning.