00:01On this day in space
00:03In 1978, cosmonaut and pilot Sigmund Yen became the first German to fly in space.
00:08Yen was an experienced pilot for the East German Air Force
00:11and studied at the Gagarin Air Force Academy in the Soviet Union in the 1960s.
00:15In 1976, he and one other German pilot were selected for the Intercosmos program,
00:20which was designed to help the Soviet Union's allies with space missions.
00:23Yen joined three Soviet cosmonauts on the Soyuz 31 mission to the Salyut 6 space station,
00:28where he took photos of the Earth using a new multispectral camera.
00:31He also conducted experiments in biology, physics, and material science.
00:35After almost eight days in space, he safely returned to Earth.
00:38And that's what happened on this day in space.
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