Editing Sigmund Jähn (section)

== Space career ==

=== Training ===

[[File:Jähn F-13.JPG|thumb|MiG-21 fighter plane, which was also flown by Jähn, in front of the [[German Space Travel Exhibition]] in [[Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz]] (2015)]]

Jähn and [[Eberhard Köllner|Köllner]] began training together in 1976, with Köllner serving as his backup pilot. The two candidates spent the next two years conducting mission-specific training and their physical health was closely monitored by physicians at the NVA's [[:de:Flug- und Raumfahrtmedizin|Institute for Aviation Medicine]] in preparation for their upcoming flight.<ref>{{Cite news |date=12 April 2011 |title=East German Cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn: 'Capitalism Now Reigns in Space' |language=en |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/east-german-cosmonaut-sigmund-jaehn-capitalism-now-reigns-in-space-a-756497.html |access-date=16 November 2023 |issn=2195-1349}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Выпуск программы «Время» в 21:00 16 ноября 2023 года. Новости. Первый канал |url=https://www.1tv.ru/news/issue/2023-11-16/21:00 |access-date=17 November 2023 |website=[[Channel One (Russia)|Channel One]] |language=ru}}</ref>

=== Soyuz 31 mission ===

On 26 August 1978, Jähn and his co-pilot, [[Valery Bykovsky]] flew aboard the [[Soyuz 31]] to the Soviet space station [[Salyut 6]]. The two men were greeted by resident cosmonauts [[Vladimir Kovalyonok]] and [[Aleksandr Ivanchenkov]] who arrived during the [[Soyuz 29]] mission. Jähn's flight lasted 7 days, 20 hours, 49 minutes, and 4 seconds - orbiting Earth 124 times. During the mission, he conducted numerous scientific experiments. These included technical experiments with the [[MKF-6 (multispectral camera)|MKF-6 multispectral camera]] for [[remote sensing]] of the Earth's surface, material science experiments on [[crystallization]], like the formation, recrystallization, and the cultivation of a [[Single crystal|monocrystal]]. He also conducted medical experiments on how weightlessness affects speech, [[Industrial and organizational psychology|occupational psychological]] studies, testing the hearing sensitivity of regular crew members, biological experiments on cellular growth under weightlessness, and the connection between [[microorganism]]s with [[organic polymers]] and inorganic substances.

Among the advanced scientific equipment on board, the two cosmonauts carried mementos from home. Jähn brought a figurine of ''[[Sandmännchen|Das Sandmännchen]]'', a well-known East German television character at the time, and Bykovsky brought a Misha doll, a character from a Soviet-era children's book series. They even broadcast a wedding between the two characters, which became controversial among East German and Soviet media outlets.<ref>{{Cite web |date=21 September 2020 |title=DDR-Fernsehen: Das Sandmännchen kam, sah und streute |url=https://www.welt.de/fernsehen/article1335285/Das-Sandmaennchen-kam-sah-und-streute.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=[[Die Welt]] |language=de}}</ref>

The Soyuz 31 remained docked to the Salyut 6 station until the custom-made seats were transferred between both Soyuz craft, where it was then used as a return vessel for Kovalyonok and Ivanchenkov. Jähn and Bykovsky later returned in the Soyuz 29 craft.

Jähn received permanent injuries to his [[spinal cord]] after an unexpectedly rough landing. Just a few yards from the ground, a gust of wind thrust the capsule back into the air, causing it hit the ground with increased momentum.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-01-29 |author-first=Jörg |author-last=Schindler |author-link=Jörg Schindler |title=Held am Himmel |url=https://www.fr.de/politik/held-himmel-11581985.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |trans-title=Hero in the Heavens|website=[[Frankfurter Rundschau]]|language=de}}</ref> Jähn couldn't reach the capsule's parachute-release switch in time and was consequently dragged across the [[steppe]]s where it landed, rolling over itself several times before coming to a stop. [[File:Interkosmos patch for GDR Cosmonauts.svg|thumb|upright=0.5|Jähn's national space patch from the air force of the [[National People's Army]]]]

=== Media reception ===

The report on the [[Spaceflight|space flight]] was prepared like a [[Staff (military)|general staffing]] brief: on the morning of 26 August 1978, the editors in chief of the GDR radio stations and newspapers all received three sealed and numbered letters. Each one contained a different announcement depending on the outcome of the flight, whether it was successful, resulted in a fatal accident, or an emergency landing in enemy territory. The corresponding letter was only to be opened and published following a telephone call with specific instructions. After the mission was a success, the letters with the negative outcomes were then collected from the organizations.<ref name="Jähn MDR" />

Jähn's space flight was celebrated and covered extensively by GDR media outlets, since one of the smaller German states was home to the first German in space. On Sunday, 27 August 1978, ''[[Neues Deutschland]]'' published a special edition newspaper with the headline ''"The First German in Space - A Citizen of the GDR"''. Specifically using the word "German" in reference to a citizen of Germany was not usually used in the GDR media.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sigmund Jähn 80: »Rehabilitierung wovon?« |url=https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/305259.rehabilitierung-wovon.html |access-date=2023-11-16 |website=[[junge Welt]] |url-access=subscription|language=de}}</ref> The [[Aktuelle Kamera]] also published numerous special programs about the mission.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2011-04-12 |title=East German Cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn: 'Capitalism Now Reigns in Space' |language=en |work=[[Der Spiegel]] |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/east-german-cosmonaut-sigmund-jaehn-capitalism-now-reigns-in-space-a-756497.html |access-date=16 November 2023 |issn=2195-1349}}</ref>

[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0409-019, Neubrandenburg, Sigmund Jähn, Gagarin-Denkmal (cropped).jpg|thumb|Sigmund Jähn with the ''[[Hero of the German Democratic Republic|Hero of the GDR]]'' and ''[[Hero of the Soviet Union]]'' medals, April 1981]]

Jähn was awarded the [[Hero of the German Democratic Republic|Hero of the GDR]] and the [[Hero of the Soviet Union]] medals in April 1981, and a [[Bust (sculpture)|bust]] of the cosmonaut was unveiled in the ''Hain der Kosmonauten'' (trans. Hall of Cosmonauts) in front of the [[Archenhold Observatory]] in [[East Berlin]]. It was removed in 1990, though was later replaced with a new version in the Saxony State Statistical Office on 22 February 2008.<ref>{{cite book |title=Heimat DDR. Erlebnisse. Betrachtungen. Erkenntnisse. Dokumente |language=de |trans-title=Homeland GDR: Experiences, Observations, Insights, Documents |author-first=Gerhard |author-last=Fiß |chapter=Aus der Laudatio zur Wiederaufstellung der Büste Sigmund Jähns im Statistischen Landesamt des Freistaates Sachsen am 22. Februar 2008 |trans-chapter=From the laudatory Speech for the Re-installation of the Bust of Sigmund Jähn in the State Statistical Office of the Free State of Saxony on 22 February 2008 |editor-first=Horst |editor-last=Jäkel |publisher={{ill|GNN-Verlag|de}} |publication-place=[[Schkeuditz]] |date=2015 |isbn=978-3-89819-416-7 |page=353}}</ref> Some schools, recreational centers, street names, and the cargo ship [[:de:Neptun 421|Neptun 421]] were named in honor of Jähn throughout his lifetime. The [[:de:Sternwarte und Planetarium „Sigmund Jähn“ Rodewisch|observatory in Rodewisch]], Germany, where [[Sputnik 1]] was first observed from Earth, was also renamed after Jähn in 1979.

An exhibition dedicated to space flight and aeronautics was constructed in the former train station of his home town Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz. This exhibit received multiple additions between 1991 and 1992, and the name was formally changed to ''The German Space Exhibition''. Since 2007, the expanded sections have been housed in a newer building not far from the original location. Furthermore, a 4.5m (~14.8&nbsp;ft.) memorial was erected in the same town to commemorate the first German cosmonaut in space.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-10-23 |title=Deutsche Raumfahrtausstellung Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz |url=http://www.deutsche-raumfahrtausstellung.de/neubau/index.htm |work=[[German Space Travel Exhibition]]|access-date=2023-11-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111023003342/http://www.deutsche-raumfahrtausstellung.de/neubau/index.htm |language=de|archive-date=23 October 2011 }}</ref>

In the 2003 German film ''[[Good Bye, Lenin!]]'', Jähn is the boyhood hero of the film's protagonist, Alex Kerner.  As part of an effort to prevent his mother from learning that the Berlin Wall came down while she was in a coma and that East Germany no longer exists as a separate nation, Kerner locates a taxi driver (played by Swiss actor [[Stefan Walz]]), who resembles the cosmonaut, to appear in a fake newscast as the successor of Communist Party Secretary [[Erich Honecker]]. "Comrade Jähn" gives a speech proclaiming that he will open the East German borders to welcome West German refugees.<ref name="Seidler">{{cite news |last=Seidler |first=Christoph |date=22 September 2019 |title=Nachruf auf Sigmund Jähn / Der leise Held |trans-title=Obituary for Sigmund Jähn: The Quiet Hero|language=de |newspaper=[[Der Spiegel]] |url=https://www.spiegel.de/wissenschaft/weltall/sigmund-jaehn-nachruf-auf-den-ersten-deutschen-im-all-a-1288043.html |accessdate=23 September 2019}}</ref><ref>{{IMDb title|0301357|Goodbye, Lenin!}}</ref>
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0410-025, Berlin, Sigmund Jähn vor Büste Juri Gagarins.jpg|thumb|Sigmund Jähn in front of the bust of [[Yuri Gagarin]] in the [[:de:Datei:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-Z0410-025, Berlin, Sigmund Jähn vor Büste Juri Gagarins.jpg|''Hain der Kosmonauten'']] at the [[Archenhold Observatory]], 1981]]
The German public broadcaster [[Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk]] organized a themed event for his 80th birthday. It aired as part of a special television program ''"Sigmund Jähn and the Heroes of the Stars"'' on the nights of 12 and 13 February 2017.

In an interview with [[Der Spiegel]] 30 years after his space flight, Jähn commented: "But the celebratory reports weren't music to my ears; I didn't want to be made into a folk hero. (. . .) I found the spotlight more strenuous than traveling in space."<ref name="Angst schadet nur">{{cite magazine |title=Der erste Deutsche im All, Sigmund Jähn, über seine historische Reise, seinen Nachfolger Alexander Gerst und die Rolle des Kommandanten an Bord einer Raumstation |trans-title=The First German in Space, Sigmund Jähn, on His Historic Journey, His Successor Alexander Gerst, and the Role of a Commander on a Space Station |language=de |magazine=[[Der Spiegel]] |date=2 June 2018  |page=100}}</ref>

[[Die Zeit]] stated in 2018: "To this day, many West Germans do not know the first German in space. (. . .) Conversely, all former GDR citizens know who Sigmund Jähn is."<ref name="Hensel Warum ist" />