Ulf Merbold (born 1941) is a German physicist and astronaut. After
growing up in East Germany, he studied physics at the University of
Stuttgart in West Germany. In 1977, he applied to become one of the
first astronauts of the European Space Agency (ESA), and started
astronaut training with NASA in 1978. On November 28, 1983, Merbold
became the first West German in space and the first non-American to fly
on a NASA spacecraft when he flew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia as a
payload specialist of the STS-9 mission. He participated in two further
space flights, the STS-42 NASA mission in 1992 and a Euromir mission to
the Russian space station Mir in 1994. In total, he spent 49 days in
space, where most of his work was related to performing experiments in
materials science and the life sciences. Merbold also provided ground
support for other ESA missions and served as head of the German
Aerospace Center's astronaut office. He worked for ESA until his
retirement in 2004.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulf_Merbold>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1895:
The Chicago Times-Herald race, the first automobile race in the
U.S., was held in Chicago.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Times-Herald_race>
1903:
SS Petriana struck a reef near Point Nepean, leading to
Australia's first major oil spill and a debate over the White Australia
policy.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Petriana>
1966:
In a military coup, Michel Micombero abolished the Burundian
monarchy and declared the country a republic with himself as president.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Micombero>
2016:
LaMia Flight 2933 crashed near Medellín, Colombia, killing 71
people, many of whom were players from Chapecoense Football Club.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaMia_Flight_2933>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
gateleg:
(furniture, also attributive) A table leg, set into a frame in the form
of a gate, that may be swung back to allow a leaf of the tabletop to
hang down.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/gateleg>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
The dreamers are the saviours of the world. As the visible world
is sustained by the invisible, so men, through all their trials and sins
and sordid vocations, are nourished by the beautiful visions of their
solitary dreamers. Humanity cannot forget its dreamers; it cannot let
their ideals fade and die; it lives in them; it knows them as the
realities which it shall one day see and know.
--James Allen
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Allen>