Sigmund Jaehn,1st German in area as 1970s cosmonaut, dies

Sigmund Jaehn, who turned the primary German in area on the peak of the Chilly Warfare in the course of the 1970s and was promoted as a hero by communist authorities in East Germany, has died. He was 82.

The German Aerospace Heart mentioned Sunday on its web site that Jaehn died Saturday. The middle didn’t give the reason for dying. German information company dpa mentioned he died at his house in Strausberg, outdoors of Berlin.

Astrophysicist Pascale Ehrenfreund, who chairs the German Aerospace Heart’s govt board, mentioned the middle was deeply saddened by Jaehn’s dying and that German aerospace had misplaced a “globally revered cosmonaut, scientist and engineer.”

“The primary German in area at all times noticed himself as a bridge builder between East and West and for a peaceable use of area” Ehrenfreund mentioned.

Jaehn flew to the Soviet area station Salyut 6 on Aug. 26, 1978 and spent virtually eight days in area. Upon his return, he was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union. The East German authorities showcased his achievement as proof of the communist state’s superiority over capitalist West Germany.

Whereas Jaehn was a family title for a era of East Germans, he remained largely unknown in West Germany. German Vice Chancellor Olaf Scholz described Jaehn final 12 months on the 40th anniversary of his area flight as “a powerful man and a reasonably quiet hero.”

“It’s excessive time for his braveness and his work to be acknowledged not simply within the east however in all of Germany,” Scholz mentioned.

Jaehn was born Feb. 13, 1937, in Morgenroethe-Rautenkranz, a village close to the Czech border. After he completed college, he educated as a printer earlier than becoming a member of the East German air drive in 1955. He turned an officer and a fighter pilot with the Nationwide Individuals’s Military within the late 1950s.

Between 1966 and 1970, he studied on the Gagarin Navy Air Academy in Monino, close to Moscow. After returning to East Germany, he labored within the air drive administration, the place he was in control of pilot training and flight security.

After the autumn of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and Germany’s reunification a 12 months later, Jaehn turned an adviser to the German Aerospace Heart and the European Area Company. He helped put together future astronauts for area missions till his retirement in 2002.

Recalling his seven days, 20 hours and 49 minutes in area, throughout which he orbited the Earth 124 occasions, Jaehn mentioned final 12 months that he vividly remembered the various sunrises he noticed throughout his mission.

“It is not just one; each 1½ hours you’ll be able to see the solar rise. It’s extremely quick. One can see precisely how the solar goes up and down and exhibits its many colours,” Jaehn informed the day by day Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.

Jaehn mentioned that not like many individuals, he had no issues getting used to zero gravity. “I did not even get sick. I assumed it was very nice,” he mentioned.

He mentioned if he had grown up in West Germany, he in all probability would by no means have made it into area.

“I did not go to college instantly. … I used to be the perfect scholar, however my father needed me to grow to be a printer. While you’re 14, you hearken to your dad and mom,” he remembered.

“I caught up on the whole lot later, received my college entrance diploma, went to college,” he added. “However within the West, they nonetheless typically prefer to say: This Jaehn, he solely was a easy employee.”

Jaehn was married and had two daughters.