Editing Ulf Merbold (section)

== Personal life ==
[[File:Astronaut Ulf Merbold (5916558544).jpg|thumb|right|Ulf Merbold in 2011|alt=Ulf Merbold with gray hair in front of a model of the Space Shuttle]]
Since 1969,<ref name="adler">{{Cite magazine |year=2021 |title=Dr. Ulf Merbold: Physiker, Astronaut und Flieger |url=https://www.bwlv.de/fileadmin/Webseite_BWLV/Gruppen/adler/adler_2021/Adler0821.pdf |magazine=Der Adler |language=de |location=Stuttgart |publisher=Baden-Württembergischer Luftfahrtverband |volume=77 |issue=8 |page=27 |issn=0001-8279 |access-date=18 November 2022 |archive-date=18 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118232108/https://www.bwlv.de/fileadmin/Webseite_BWLV/Gruppen/adler/adler_2021/Adler0821.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> Ulf Merbold has been married to Birgit, {{nee|Riester}} and the couple have two children, a daughter born in 1975 and a son born in 1979.{{sfn|NASA|1983|p=59}} They live in Stuttgart.<ref name="adler" />

In 1984, Merbold met the East German cosmonaut [[Sigmund Jähn]], who had become the first German in space after launching on [[Soyuz 31]] on 26 August 1978. They both were born in the Vogtland (Jähn was born in [[Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz]])<ref name="ESA2003" /> and grew up in East Germany.{{sfn|Evans|2013|p=207}} Jähn and Merbold became founding members of the [[Association of Space Explorers]] in 1985.<ref name="cicero">{{Cite news|title=Sigmund Jähn – Held mit Rückenschmerzen|work=[[Cicero (magazine)|Cicero]]|issn=1613-4826|language=de|url=https://www.cicero.de/kultur/sigmund-jaehn-all-ddr-weltraum-esa-kosmonaut|access-date=18 March 2022|last=Hildebrandt|first=Antje|date=23 September 2019|archive-date=16 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416050543/https://www.cicero.de/kultur/sigmund-jaehn-all-ddr-weltraum-esa-kosmonaut|url-status=live}}</ref> Jähn helped Merbold's mother, who had moved to Stuttgart,{{sfn|NASA|1983|p=59}} to obtain a permit for a vacation in East Germany. After [[German reunification]], Merbold helped Jähn become a freelance consultant for the [[German Aerospace Center]].<ref name="cicero"/> At the time of the [[Fall of the Berlin Wall]], they were at an astronaut conference in [[Saudi Arabia]] together.<ref name="SZ" />

In his spare time Merbold enjoys playing the piano and skiing. He also flies planes including [[Glider (aircraft)|gliders]]. Holding a [[commercial pilot license]], he has over 3,000 hours of flight experience as a pilot.<ref name="ESA2004" /> On his 79th birthday, he inaugurated the new runway at the {{ill|Flugplatz Greiz-Obergrochlitz|de}} airfield, landing with his wife in a [[Piper PA-34 Seneca|Piper Seneca II]].<ref name="Freund">{{Cite web |last=Freund |first=Christian |date=22 June 2020 |title=Astronaut weiht sanierte Start- und Landebahn ein – Willkommen in Greiz-Obergrochlitz |url=http://www.greiz-obergrochlitzer.de/2020/06/22/astronaut-weiht-sanierte-start-und-landebahn-ein/  | website=greiz-obergrochlitzer.de|access-date=31 March 2022 |language=de-DE |archive-date=12 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201212001708/http://www.greiz-obergrochlitzer.de/2020/06/22/astronaut-weiht-sanierte-start-und-landebahn-ein/ |url-status=live }}</ref>