DARA.

NAME: Gerhard P.J. Thiele

DLR Astronaut (Mission Specialist Candidate)

BIRTH DATE/PLACE:

Born September 2, 1953, in Heidenheim-Brenz, Germany. Considers Br�hl, 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 Universit�t in Munich, and at Ruprecht-Karls-Universit�t in Heidelberg,from 1976 to 1982; received his doctorate at the Institute for Environmental Physics of Heidelberg Universit�t, in 1985.

ORGANIZATIONS:

Member of Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society), American Geophysical Union, and Weltraumforum Aachen at Rheinisch-Westf�lische Technische Hochschule, Aachen.

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. Since 1983 he is an acknowledged conscientious objector. From 1976 to 1982, he studied physics at Ludwig-Maximilians Universit�t in Munich, and Ruprecht-Karls-Universit�t in Heidelberg. From 1982 to 1985, while completing his doctoral thesis, Thiele was a research assistant at the Institut f�r Umweltphysik (Institute for Environmental Physics), Universit�t 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 as 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.

NASA EXPERIENCE:

Thiele again reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996 to begin two years of training and evaluation. Successful completion of initial training will qualify him for various technical assignments leading to selection as a mission specialist on a Space Shuttle flight crew.

• STS-99 - - 2000 Feb 11 - Assignment: Prime Crew. Flight Time: 11.23 days. Flight details: STS-99.

  On an extremely successful mission the space shuttle Endeavour deployed the 61 metre long STRM mast. This was a side-looking radar that digitally mapped with unprecedented accuracy the entire land surface of the Earth between latitudes 60 deg N and 54 deg S. Sponsors of the flight included the US National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA), NASA, and the German and Italian space agencies. Some of the NIMA data would remain classified for exclusive use by the US Department of Defense.