Date of Birth: Sept. 2, 1953
Age: 71
Dr. Gerhard Paul Julius Thiele (born September 2, 1953) is a German physicist and a former ESA astronaut. In 1996, he was selected by the German Space Agency to receive Space Shuttle Mission Specialist training at NASA. In August 1998, he joined the European Space Agency (ESA), into which the German national team was integrated. In 2000, he completed his only spaceflight, the STS-99 Shuttle Radar Topography Mission.
The European Space Agency is an intergovernmental organisation of 22 member states. Established in 1975 and headquartered in Paris, France, ESA has a worldwide staff of about 2,000 employees. ESA's space flight programme includes human spaceflight (mainly through participation in the International Space Station program); the launch and operation of unmanned exploration missions to other planets and the Moon; Earth observation, science and telecommunication; designing launch vehicles; and maintaining a major spaceport, the Guiana Space Centre at Kourou, French Guiana.
A batch of 24 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
First of a three launches contract for Amazon's Kuiper low Earth orbit satellite internet constellation, with 24 satellites on board.
A batch of 26 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
Eighth cargo delivery mission to the Chinese space station.
Note: SpaceX identifies the mission as "Commercial GTO 1". Dror-1 is a geostationary communication satellite built and developed by Israel Aerospa…