Ernst Messerschmid, born May 21, 1945 in Reutlingen, Germany, went into space on the shuttle mission directed, sponsored and paid for by West Germany. It was the last successful mission of Challenger (STS-61-A) and had a non-NASA designation Deutschland-1 (D-1). Messerschmid joined fellow German astronaut Reinhard Furrer and Dutch astronaut Wubbo Ockels.
