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Reinhard Alfred Furrer (November 25, 1940 -
September 9, 1995) was a Germany|German scientist
and astronaut.

Furrer was born in Wörgl, Austria (then part of
Germany). After the end of WW2 his father was
expelled from Austria, and the family found a new
home in Kempten, Bavaria. He stayed there until he
joined the University of Kiel to study physics.
Furrer later transferred to the Free University of
Berlin, where he received a diploma in 1969, and a
doctorate in 1972. In 1974 he became assistant
professor in Stuttgart and in 1979 qualified for
full professorship. He spent time during 1980-1981
at the University of Chicago and during 1981 at
the Argonne National Laboratory in Chicago, USA.

In 1977 Furrer applied for selection as an
astronaut for the first Spacelab mission and made
it into the final round of candidates, although
Ulf Merbold was finally selected. In 1982 the
astronauts for the first German Spacelab mission
were selected from the finalists for the first
mission, and Furrer was one of the two chosen. He
was a payload specialist on STS-61-A (D1), which
was launched October 30, 1985. The other payload
specialists were Ernst Messerschmid and Wubbo
Ockels (Netherlands).

After his spaceflight he became a professor in
1987 as well as the Director of the Institute of
Space Sciences at the Free University of Berlin.

Furrer was an avid pilot. He earned his pilot
license in 1974, doing several long distance trips
with one engine planes - including a flight over
the inland ice of Greenland in 1979 and a solo
flight from Germany to Quito, Ecuador in 1981. His
love for planes finally cost him his life, as he
died in a plane crash during a flight show in
Johannisthal (Berlin). He was a passenger on a
flight with a historic Messerschmitt Bf 108|Me 108
after the end of the official flight show when the
pilot Gerd Kahdemann lost control of the plane
shortly after 6 pm. Both he and Furrer were killed
immediately.

During his time as a student in Berlin, he was
involved in the building of the 145 m long "Tunnel
57" below the Berlin Wall, which was the escape
route of 57 people from East Berlin to the West.

==References==
*Julide Tanriverdi, Reinhard Furrer - Das Summen
des Universums, ISBN 354835632X

==External links==
*http://www.astronauten.dlr.de/e_fur.htm Biography
at the DLR (German space agency)
*http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/furrer-r.ht
ml Biography at NASA