Thomas Reiter

Thomas Reiter is a German aerospace engineer, former ESA astronaut, and retired Brigadier General of the German Air Force. He spent approximately 350 days in space across two long-duration missions aboard the Russian Mir space station and the International Space Station (ISS), becoming the first German astronaut to perform a spacewalk. He subsequently held senior leadership positions at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and the European Space Agency (ESA). Since January 2026, he has served as Head of the Space and Security Department at Germany’s Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space.