design: Soviet space program, 1991, Wikimedia Commons
October 1991, Outer Space
He was called the ‘Austronaut’: electrical engineer Franz Viehböck was the first – and so far the only – Austrian in space. Working with a Russian and a Kazakh cosmonaut, he spent a week conducting medical and technological experiments on the Soviet space station Mir. The bilateral project was named Austromir 91, and became central to the history of Austria’s contributions to space research.
Austrian President Kurt Waldheim, whose voice recording had been sent into space years earlier in his position as UN General Secretary, honoured Franz Viehböck’s contributions to the project.
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