physics

Thomas Reiter

Thomas Reiter is a physics topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Thomas Reiter rather than just read about it. In short: Thomas Arthur Reiter (born 23 May 1958 in Frankfurt, West Germany) is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the German Air Force currently working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General at the European Space Agency (ESA). He was one of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space.

Key takeaways

Thomas Reiter belongs to physics; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Thomas Reiter to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Thomas Reiter from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Thomas Arthur Reiter (born 23 May 1958 in Frankfurt, West Germany) is a retired European astronaut and is a Brigadier General in the German Air Force currently working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General at the European Space Agency (ESA). He was one of the top 25 astronauts in terms of total time in space. With his wife and two sons he lives near Oldenburg in Lower Saxony.

Education He graduated from Goethe-High School in Neu-Isenburg in 1977. In 1982, Reiter received his diploma in aerospace engineering from the University of the Bundeswehr Munich. In 2010, the university awarded him an honorary doctorate degree. He completed his training as a pilot in Germany and Texas.

Astronaut career He served as an onboard engineer for the Euromir 95/Soyuz TM-22 mission to the Mir space station. During his 179 days aboard Mir, he carried out two EVAs and became the first German astronaut to perform a spacewalk. Between 1996 and 1997, he underwent additional training on the Soyuz spacecraft and was awarded a "Soyuz Return Commander" certificate, qualifying him to command a three-person Soyuz crew during its return from space. He trained for a six-month mission to the International Space Station (ISS) and was selected for the Space Shuttle Discovery STS-121 mission to join Expedition 13. The launch was initially scheduled for 1 July 2006, but was due to weather delays eventually conducted on 4 July 2006. Discovery then departed on 15 July, leaving Reiter on the ISS continuing to work on Expedition 13. He later became part of Expedition 14 before returning to Earth, again aboard Discovery during the STS-116 mission. Reiter returned after 171 days in space, therefore having been in orbit twice, each time for almost half a year. His ISS mission was designated Astrolab by the European Space Agency. On 8 August 2007 Thomas Reiter was named a member of DLR's executive board. From 1 April 2011 to December 2015 he was Director of Human Spaceflight and Operations at the European Space Agency (ESA), responsible for all crewed and uncrewed mission operations. This included the operation and exploitation of the European International Space Station elements, ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle, the responsibility for the European Astronaut Centre, EAC, and ESA's uncrewed missions and ground-based mission infrastructure. Today he is working as ESA Interagency Coordinator and Advisor to the Director General.

Honours and awards Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2007) Bavarian Medal Europe (2008) Honorary doctorate of the Faculty of Aeronautics and Astronautics at the University of the Bundeswehr Munich (28 June 2010) Order of Friendship (Russia, 1996) Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" (Russia, 12 April 2011) – for outstanding contribution to the development of international cooperation in crewed space flight Honorary membership in the Danish Astronautical Society

References This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links

ESA profile page Official NASA Biography NASA STS-121 Mission Archived 2007-07-11 at the Wayback Machine Spacefacts biography

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Thomas Reiter

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Thomas Reiter claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In physics, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Thomas Reiter before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Thomas Reiter ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Thomas Reiter

In research: Thomas Reiter appears in physics research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Thomas Reiter in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Thomas Reiter is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1958 births, 20th-century German explorers, Brigadier generals of the German Air Force, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Thomas Reiter outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Thomas Reiter in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Thomas Reiter means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Thomas Reiter out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Thomas Reiter in simple terms?

Why does Thomas Reiter matter?

Because it connects several physics ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Thomas Reiter?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Thomas Reiter.