Major General Sigmund Jahn Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn (born 13 February 1937) is a German pilot, who became the first German to fly in space as part of the Soviet Union's Interkosmos programme.

Jähn was born in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, in the Vogtland district of Saxony, Germany. From 1943 to 1951 he attended school in his hometown, and after school trained as a printer.
 
In 1955 he joined the East German Air Force, where he became a pilot and military scientist. From 1966 until 1970 he studied at the Gagarin Air Force Academy in Monino, in the Soviet Union, and afterwards worked in the administration of the East German air force, responsible for pilot education and flight safety.

Jähn was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union on 3 September 1978.[1] In 1983 he received a doctorate in physics at the "Zentralinstitut für Physik der Erde" in Potsdam, specialising in remote sensing of the earth.
 
Starting in 1990, after German reunification, he worked as a freelance consultant for the formerly West German spaceflight agency German Aerospace Center (DLR), and from 1993 also for the European Space Agency (ESA) to prepare for the Euromir missions. In 2002 he finally retired from this job.
 
Jähn is married and has two children. He lives in Strausberg and he enjoys reading and hunting.
 
Asteroid 17737 was named "Sigmundjähn" in 2001.