40 years ago today, the first German flew into space.

And I hadn't been aware until now.

Despite having been fascinated by manned spaceflight pretty much all my
life, and being a German myself, I think I had never even heard of
Sigmud Jähn before. In my mind, the first German to fly into space was -
of course - Ulf Merbold, about 5 years later.

Also, reading about Jähn's biography evokes mixed emotions: Should I as
a German be proud? Or should I resent him as a man who was an officer in
the then-enemy's military, and a member of the party that oppressed half
of Germany?


This goes to show how deep the divide between West and East Germany was
at that time. And also how little we West Germans realize - let alone
appreciate - that East Germany had a history of its own, some of which
they may rightfully be proud of.


I think I'll decide to go with Ulf Merbold, who was one of my childhood
heroes. Merbold and Jähn are said to be year-long friends, so who am I
to not embrace the man, too. And besides, to many of my fellow Germans
he was as much of a hero as Ulf Merbold was to me - German's pioneer
into space.

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