Klaus-Dietrich Flade

Klaus-Dietrich Flade with the mouse from 'Sendung mit der Maus' (Mouse TV)
Flade travelled into orbit on 17 March 1992 for seven days. Alongside his colleagues there was an additional guest – the mouse from popular television show 'Die Sendung mit der Maus' (literally, 'The programme with the mouse' – renamed 'Mouse TV' for English-speaking audiences) accompanied the crew on their mission Dressed in a silver space suit, she floated through the Russian Mir space station. This event was beamed live to viewers on Earth and the tradition was continued five years later on the Mir '97 mission, when Reinhold Ewald brought along 'Hein Blöd' – a character from the same programme.
Image: 1/3, Credit:
Klaus-Dietrich Flade ready for launch
On 17 March 1992, the German astronaut Klaus-Dietrich Flade, together with the two Russian cosmonauts Aleksandr Viktorenko and Alexandr (Sascha) Kaleri, launched on an eight-day mission to the Russian space station Mir on board the Soyuz TM-14 spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On 19 March 1992, the spacecraft docked with the Mir station and the three cosmonauts 'moved' into the space station.
Image: 2/3, Credit:

dpa–Bildarchiv.

The MIR'92 crew in the Soyuz simulator
Klaus-Dietrich Flade (behind), Aleksandr Viktorenko and Aleksandr (Sascha) Kaleri (front) in the Sojus TM simulator. Flade was the first German astronaut to take part in a spaceflight of the former USSR. On 17 March 1992, the then 39-year-old Luftwaffe test pilot, together with Viktorenko and Kaleri, were launched from Baikonur en route to the Russian space station Mir on board the Soyuz TM-14 spacecraft.
Image: 3/3, Credit:

dpa-Bildarchiv.

Klaus-Dietrich Flade was born on 23 August 1952 in Büdesheim, near Frankfurt. He served in the military from 1974 to 1976 where he completed both his officer and aircraft mechanics training. He then studied for a degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of the Federal Armed Forces in Munich (Universität der Bundeswehr München).

Prior to commencing his training as a test pilot in England in 1988, Flade had been a pilot of both single and multi-engine high-performance aircraft for eight years. Flade became a member of the German astronaut team in October 1990 and was involved in the preparation of the Mir '92 mission, where biomedical experiments were to be performed.

Flade lifted off on 17 March 1992 for a week-long stay in orbit with his colleagues and a special guest. The mouse from popular children's television programme 'Die Sendung mit der Maus' (literally, 'The programme with the mouse', renamed 'Mouse TV' for English-speaking audiences) accompanied the crew on their mission. Dressed in a silver space suit, she floated through the Russian Mir space station. This event was beamed live to viewers on Earth and the tradition was continued five years later on the Mir '97 mission, when Reinhold Ewald brought along 'Hein Blöd', a character from the same programme.

DLR assumed all payload operation and astronaut supervision duties for the Mir '92 mission.

Flade became an Airbus test pilot following the successful conclusion of the mission. He lives and works in Toulouse, France.