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| Dipl.-Ing. Franz Viehböck |
| The first Austrian in space |
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| Franz Viehböck, the first Austrian in space, fulfilled his
dream of the space flight, developed an impressive international
career and continues to enjoy new challenges associated with
advancement, innovation and his vision |
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| of the future. Franz Viehböck worked as an Assistant
Professor at the Vienna Technical University when a newspaper
announcement of a possible Austrian flight to the space station “Mir”
caught his attention. Sending an application meant not only an adventure
but also a challenge that could shape his future in an unexpected way.
He knew, two years training in Star City near Moscow would test his
mental and physical limits, but first he had to be elected as one of the
best, between many ambitious, competitive young people. |
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| After exhausting selection, he and
Clemens Lothaler were chosen as candidates for the joint Austrian-Soviet
Mission in space. From now on, Franz Viehböck concentrated enormous
energy, completing one test after another, all with outstanding results.
The vision of him sitting in the cockpit of a space rocket made him use
his mental and physical capabilities to their utmost. Until shortly
before the launch it was uncertain who from the two trained cosmonauts
will join the first team – the tiny difference in mental preparedness
made Franz boarding the cockpit of the rocket on October 2, 1991. |
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Flight crew
The flight crew of the Sojus TM-13 flight consisted of the Russian
Oberst Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Volkov (commandant), the Kazakh
Toktar Ongarbayevich Aubakirov (board engineer) and the Austrian
Franz Viehboeck (scientific cosmonaut). |
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Backup crew
For the backup crew nominated were the Russian Oberst Aleksandr
Stepanovich Viktorenko (commandant), the Kazakh Talgat
Amangeldyevich Musabayev (board engineer) and the Austrian Clemens
Lothaller (scientific cosmonaut). |
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The successful launch wasn’t only the
start of an unforgettable space adventure but also the beginning of new
challenges and opening of new horizons in his professional and private
life. The rewards of seeing the beauty of our planet from a different
perspective and feeling the excitement of weightlessness overshadowed
the exhaustion of hard working schedule in the space station. The return
to Earth with the landing on solid ground, the most dangerous part of
the mission, was followed by an unexpected popularity and public
interest throughout the country.
For the next two years, he toured through Austria and several other
countries sharing his experience and impressions with countless people:
children, students, public, scientific and corporate organizations. |
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| In early 1994, following his ambition to
enter the world of High Tech industry, he accepted a position with
Rockwell Space Systems Division in Los Angeles, California. His
motivation, flexibility, team spirit and international connections
accelerated a remarkable career. Shortly after Boeing acquired the
former Rockwell Aerospace and defense group, Franz became Director of
International Business Development. In support of Boeing’s vision to
become a global company, he went for an assignment to Austria as
Director General and European representative for Boeing’s Space and
Communication Group. |
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| The dynamics and development of
international space and defense business made it necessary for Franz to
return to California in early 2002. For the first time in his career,
his children expressed the wish not to relocate again. For Franz, this
was an opportunity to start something completely new, he was ready for
the new challenge: he accepted a position of the president of Berndorf
Band, a company using high technology in the production of endless steel
belts. |
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Franz Viehböck has boundless energy and rarely
stops moving. In his speeches, he draws upon the experience and
insights of the space mission emphasizing the importance of stress
and conflict management, teamwork, motivation and innovation for
managers of successful companies. He isn’t only sharing the memories
of his momentous space adventure, but encouraging the audiences to
believe in the values of human spirit and to “reach for the stars”. |
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Franz Viehböck was
engaged as spokesperson for such companies as:
Ascom, BA-CA, Boston Consulting Group, Compaq, Epson, Eunet, Eurisy,
Generali, HP, IMAX, KLM, Kuffner Sternwarte, NASA, NÖGKK, Oberbank , OMV,
Oracle, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics, Österreichische Computer
Gesellschaft, Saab Ericsson , Siemens, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Swissair –
Sabena, T-mobile, T-Systems, Tupper Ware, Unternehmen Erfolg,
Wirtschaftskammer Tirol, Wirtschaftskammer Vorarlberg, Zeiss
Planetarium, etc |
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| Contact |
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| SCM Susanne Conrads Management |
| A 2344 Maria Enzersdorf, Martin Gusinde-Gasse 15 |
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Date of issue: October 2, 1991
Face value: AS 9
Commemorative stamp
On the occasion of a state visit in 1987, then Soviet
Foreign Minister Ryschov laid before the Austrian |
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| government a proposal to coordinate a
joint Soviet-Austrian mission to the Mir space station. In spite
of the high financing costs, the Council of Ministers decided to
accept this offer on April 5, 1988 and in October the relevant
treaty was signed. This treaty marked the birth of the Austro
Mir Project. Lift off to the space station occurred using a
Soyus-TM-rocket, in which engineer Franz Viehboeck traveled as
the first Austrian in space. A series of technical and medical
experiments were performed in cooperation with Soviet astronauts
and one thousand of these commemorative stamps illustrating the
space station accompanied the team on their flight. |
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Text source in extracts: |
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| aeiou - das kulturinformationssystem des bm:bwk |
| 14.000 keywords and 2000 images from
Austrian history, geography, politics and economics |
| www.aeiou.at |
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| Habitation on the space station
MIR |
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On the 5th October the working day on board of
the orbital complex MIR started at 8:00 a.m. ZUP-time, and lasted
till 11:00 p.m. Franz Viehboeck as well as the soviet cosmonauts
attended primary on medical experiments. |
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| The medical experiments were prior enquiries of
physiological reactions of the organism to weightlessness, which had at
this time only been explored insufficient. The main part of the medical
experiments - designated as Block I and Block II - were accomplished on
the second and on the fifth day of the space flight. Block I included
the coeval accomplished experiments AUDIMIR, MONIMIR and OPTOVERT
centralised, and Block II the also coeval accomplished experiments
MIKROVIB, PULSTRANS, and MOTOMIR. |
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| MIGMAS |
| Micro Gravity Mass Spectrometer |
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| Through contact with radiation in space, space
vehicles can corrode. This means changes in the physical, electrical and
mechanical properties of structural, protection and isolation materials.
Spacecraft nearer to earth are attacked by oxygen atoms of the topmost
atmosphere, whereby organic material are affected the most. In manned
space stations, organic gas emissions for the station itself also play a
role. Contaminated substances |
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under the influence of external radiation
build up on the surface of the space station.
The project was defined as a technological development task. Decisive
for the choice of this experiment was the absolute innovation of such a
task setting, because similar devices for the usage on earth are too big
and heavy. |
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The experiment has shown that such a
complex precision instrument like an ion microscope can be brought into
orbit without any damage. The stability of the newly developed
minitiaturized liquid metal ion emitter in difficult operating
conditions on board the space station has shown its application
capability in a micro-analytical device. The device parameters and
output data measured on MIR and identical with those measured on earth.
Controlling the device on board did not cause any problems. A cosmonaut
can therefere complete complex tasks once the apparatus is completed
into an ion microprobe mass spectrometer. After the AUSTROMIR 91 mission
ended, the MIGMAS-A device was switched on another five times between
January and July 1992 by the cosmonauts on board the station. For this
reason one wanted to determine the long-term stability under the storage
conditions on MIR and to establish the optimal system parameters in
microgravity. These efforts were carried out free of charge by the
Russian partners in the AUSTROMIR project and were as an advance for a
planned future project.
Both the Austrian and the Russian experimenters hope on a continuation
of the project, especially after the remarkable results of the MIGMAS-A
apparatus. The device functioned faultlessly on board the space station
till MIR crashed. |
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