GotW #1 - Reinhard Furrer

Reinhard Furrer, 1940-1995

I learned about Reinhard at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. We'll talk more about that tomorrow or possibly Saturday.

Today, I'd like to talk about the Astronaut / Physicist / Tunneler / Pilot / Philosopher, Reinhard Furrer.

He grew up in what is now Austria but was then Germany. He studied Physics in Berlin and in 1964 helped to build "Tunnel 57" which allowed 57 East Germans to flee to the West.

He had this to say about it.

"... doing something to fight the injustice of the Wall was a matter of character. People did not want to sit by while that kind of injustice went on. We wanted people to realize that in doing what we did we were embodying the conscience of West Germans. We were defending moral values. It was very much an act of humanity. I would do the same again today. I expect that from every German."

He went into space as a member of the last successful mission of the Challenger. This was a Spacelab mission. He is the third German to enter space.

There were many awesome quotes from Reinhard at the museum and I unfortunately recorded none of them. You have no idea how much I wish I had recorded the actual quotes. They were awesome. I have this.

"I would have liked to be asked, when I arrived back, what it had felt like to be out there, how I had felt in the midst of all that glittery blackness orbiting the Earth like a star."

Reinhard died in a plane crash. He was a passenger in a Messerschmitt Bf 108. The crash occurred after the completion of an air show at Johannisthal Air Field.

Here's some more good stuff to read.

- Egon Shultz and "Tunnel 57"
- Berlin Wall History Mile
- RTB's World of Wonder