Viehböck became the first Austrian in space 35 years ago

Franz Viehböck became the first Austrian to travel into space 35 years ago, launching aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on October 2, 1991, ORF reported. He flew to the Mir space station as part of the Austromir mission.

The Soyuz-TM-13 lifted off from Baikonur in Kazakhstan shortly before 7 a.m. Viehböck, then 30, was aboard with Russian commander Alexander Volkov and Kazakh cosmonaut Toktar Aubakirov. His wife, Vesna, gave birth to their daughter, Carina Marie, in Wiener Neustadt eight and a half hours after launch.

The spacecraft docked with Mir two days later. Viehböck carried out 15 scientific experiments, including research in medicine and materials science and studies of the effects of weightlessness. The mission lasted seven days, 22 hours and 12 minutes. He returned to Earth on October 10, landing near Arkalyk in Kazakhstan.

More than 180 people applied to take part in the mission after the Soviet Union offered Austria a place in a crewed spaceflight project in 1987. Viehböck and doctor Clemens Lothaller were selected for cosmonaut training near Moscow. Viehböck was named to the flight crew in 1991, with Lothaller as his backup.

The mission drew wide public attention in Austria and raised interest in space research and technology. After the flight, Viehböck worked as a lecturer and advocate for space research on behalf of the Austrian government. He later worked in the US space industry and returned to Austria. He is now chief executive of Berndorf AG.

Viehböck remained the only Austrian to travel into space for more than three decades. Franz Haider became the second in January 2024, flying as a space tourist on a private mission. Carmen Possnig, a doctor and space physiologist from Klagenfurt, is a reserve astronaut with the European Space Agency and could become the next Austrian woman in space.