This is a translation of the article in German „Warum schmeisst Nicola Baumann die Astronauten-Ausbildung?“ on Balthasar’s blog of Dec. 29, 2017;
(https://balthasarschmitt.wordpress.com/2017/12/29/warum-schmeisst-nicola-baumann-die-astronauten-ausbildung/)

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We evaluate 5 messages

(1) On Dec. 14th, 2017, SPIEGEL Online was the first to publish the news in an article
by Verena Töpper:

„Withdrawal from astronaut training: Nicola Baumann does not want to be the first German woman into space after all“.
„She had prevailed against 400 competitors, now she’s quitting: …“

As to the reasons, Baumann herself states:

„I still want to be an astronaut, but this path is just not right for me,“ Baumann told SPIEGEL. „The initiative and I are not a good fit. But fortunately there are many commercial and government alternatives, and now that I’ve already passed a selection once and the training has also gone very well so far, I’m optimistic that I’ll find the right path into space for me.“

(2) Also on Dec. 14th, 2012, the TAGESSPIEGEL-Online [a Berlin based newspaper] has a dpa report with quote from SPIEGEL Online:

„“The Female Astronaut“ contestant Nicola Baumann surprisingly drops out.
The goal of the private „The Female Astronaut“ project is ambitious: in 2020 for the first time a German woman shall fly into space. But one of the two candidates has now thrown in the towel.“

Baumann’s words as to the reasons are quoted according to SPIEGEL Online.
Ms. Kessler reports: „The first six months were meant to be a kind of trial period.“ „In recent months, Baumann and Thiele-Eich had already completed a parabolic flight in Russia to prepare for weightlessness.“ As for funding, it says, „The initiative needs to raise about 50 millions of euros for the training and the flight into space. „We are making progress,“ Kessler said. „But a large part of the money is still missing.„“

(3) On Dec. 15th, 2017, the FAZ printed a scanty dpa message:

Nicola Baumann does not want to go into space privately
As to the reasons, quoting from SPIEGEL Online, it states:
„“This came as a surprise,“ the initiative’s founder, Claudia Kessler, said Thursday. Baumann still wants to reach for the stars. „I still want to be an astronaut, but this path is just not the.right one for me,“ she told the SPIEGEL magazine.“

(4) On Dec. 15th, 2017, the TAGESSPIEGEL also printed a dpa report:

Eurofighter pilot Nicola Baumann no longer wants to fly into space as an „astronaut“
As to the reasons, a spokeswoman for the initiative „The Female Astronaut“ said:
„The decision was mutual, a spokeswoman for the Bremen-based initiative said Thursday. She declined to give the reasons.„

(5) On Dec. 16th, 2017, the FAZ ran an interview with Baumann’s fellow applicant, meteorologist Insa Thiele-Eich, about the program „The Female Astronaut“ and her fellow’s exit; Lorenz Hemicker asked the questions.

„The training alone is worth it“

Regarding the reasons, the fellow applicant states:
„Ms. Thiele-Eich, the private program „The Female Astronaut“ wants to send the first German woman into space. Your fellow applicant Nicola Baumann has now dropped out. How did you find out about this?
She didn’t just decide on Thursday. We have always been in close contact over the last few months and have talked a lot about whether she should take this step. Sometimes there are reasons to take other paths. I can understand them well, even if they don’t apply to me.“

Nothing about the reasons

No one in the media dares to get to the reasons. All statements so far boil down to the same thing: „Not my way …“ But why?

In order to be able to classify the previous statements on the reasons for Nicola Baumann’s surprising step, a look at the media back story is helpful. It has been staged like a soap opera. The strong desire and great enthusiasm of the candidate, her commitment, the long-lasting exuberance in the media, the hyping up of the two applicants to „stars“ after the jury’s decision for the two „winners“ in April 2017, the general feminist satisfaction about the final presentation of two women as candidates for being astronauts, as if a German woman in space would finally fulfill an ideological and a national aspiration. Do they not know or do they not want to admit that the aspiration amounts to a fraud?

All of us should share, rejoice about the coming space flight of a German, as if it had been longed for a long time, and now the fulfillment of the longing is finally coming, like Christmas and Easter on the same day? Did you, dear readers of all genders, long for anything? The manipulated emotions of the mass media now have to deal with a disappointment about the fact that one of the two bearers of the emotions simply drops out of the national hero role.

Of course, the reasons or motives for leaving the astronaut training would be interesting. Ms. Baumann only says that the way via the initiative „The Female Astronaut“ is not the right one for her; however, she wants to look for another way. Her companion Thiele-Eich describes how the exit came about as having been discussed between them for a long time, in the last few months. No reason has been given so far, so everyone is free to let their thoughts run wild.

It is possible, therefore, that Ms. Baumann’s decision was made as early as September; if she started astronaut training in May after the competition’s decision in April, then she would have seen her reason for quitting after only a few months of training. Since Ms. Baumann had previously given herself as unreservedly convinced and enthusiastic, which I’m sure everyone believed her to be, then things must have happened in that short time that took away the foundations of the great momentum.

As long as Ms. Baumann does not enlighten the previously sought-after public about the sudden exit, everyone will have his own thoughts about the puzzle that the abrupt about-turn represents for the manipulated public. Something that the media do not stage themselves naturally remains a mystery to them and their audience.

A few bits of back story

In the beginning, only the German government complained that there was no German woman astronaut on the ISS, when this would have helped to promote mathematical-technical knowledge or „competences“ (even without knowledge) among the female youth of the country, when scientific knowledge is so difficult to acquire and is frowned upon accordingly. Many educated people in this country like to boast that they have always had a five in math. This crux with education could be cured in one fell swoop with the ISS. Then we would be somebody and at the top again.

In the following article we have logged a list of short references of the articles about spaceflight from SPIEGEL ONLINE:

To the Moon and Back with 1,8 Millisieverts
or Manned Space Flight in the Light of Cosmic Radiation
March 19, 2016, available for download here:
(https://balthasarschmitt.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/mit-millisievert-zum-mond-und-zurc3bcck-1603201.pdf)
hereafter cited by the keyword MILLISIEVERT.

In MILLISIEVERT under the heading § 56 The manned frippery on SPIEGEL ONLINE (pp. 77-86) we show and document the spaceflight madness deliberately made in the mass media, so that everyone can read later, since when we warned about media falsification and fraud and organized madness in human spaceflight.

The Wörner interview from 2015 on SPIEGEL Online

In MILLISIEVERT, p. 85, we have captured an interview gem with the ESA chief so that in the future, the German government, Brigitte Zypries and Johann-Dietrich (Jan) Wörner will no longer be able to escape us through the German mouse hole of „We didn’t know about anything“.

10.9.15 – Esa chief Wörner:
How Germany can finally get a female astronaut
The German government wants Germany to finally send a female astronaut into space. State Secretary for Economic Affairs Brigitte Zypries explains: „After eleven men, Germany could also send a woman into space.“ Purpose: to study the behavior of the female body in weightlessness, and with the female astronaut to give young women a role model to engage with science and technology. Several other countries have already sent female astronauts into space.

SPIEGEL Online conducts an interview with Wörner.
According to the European tenders and selection principles, no German woman has qualified so far. But he [Wörner] has a suggestion: Germany should sign a contract with NASA and finance the training. Then a German could fly on a NASA participant seat. This is the model Italy used to bring its female astronaut to the ISS.
Esa could organize an only-female tender in Germany, everything else would have to be clarified by the government with NASA. Germany could supply NASA with a second „Orion“ service module. Wörner does not want to comment on the question of a possible training of a German female astronaut at ROSKOSMOS in Russia, because the Russians also train in the Crimea.
[End quote]

So since 2015 we know who is behind it all: the German government; it organizes the general enthusiasm – out of nothing! It is supposed to finance the bogus training to become an astronaut actress out of tax money, and to pay and deliver a second ORION service module (we have reported) out of equally German tax money to NASA (after all allegedly it would be built in Bremen and the Euros would remain in the country), in order to get a NASA seat for a „female astronaut“ on the ISS in return. An ESA seat is no longer available because – based purely on merit – no German female applicant made it into the final selection of ESA candidates. Now Wörner points the way to corriger la fortune.

Who assigns the seats on the ISS?

This disgrace must be ironed out. A very important realization already arises, to which we will still come back: there are seats on the ISS only for NASA, ESA and ROSKOSMOS! Who does not want to fly with them, does not come at all on the ISS. By the way, the ESA boss also delivers a pearl of the public fight for equal opportunities for men and women, purely on the basis of performance:
„Esa could organize an only-female tender in Germany …“ So a tender only for female, but not the best qualification! So that’s why the ESA must act. Their boss must know it.

Half a year later, on March 6, 2016, the TAGESSPIEGEL reports about the new state of affairs of the space fraud under the titel:

Wanted: The first German female astronaut

(MILLISIEVERT, pp. 90-91:) „6.3.2016 TAGESSPIEGEL: Wanted: The first German female astronaut – A personnel service provider wants to send a female space traveler to the ISS. Why it is still so difficult for women to find jobs in so-called male professions. – Author: Julia Beil.

Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. Valentina V. Tereshkova emulated her idol so persistently that she herself in 1963 became the first woman to launch into space aboard the „Vostock 5“. She orbited the Earth for 3 days. Such a career of a woman as an astronaut should finally be possible in Germany. The personnel service provider for aerospace specialists „HE Space“ has announced a casting. The first German female astronaut is being sought. The offer is a flight to the ISS before the year 2020.

In Germany, there is a shortage of women in scientific and technical professions, so they are dominated by men. Sociologist Nina Degele says, „There’s a culture at work.“ She says there is a vicious circle: women don’t want to go into male-dominated professions because they are only seen as token women there. That’s why role models like the female astronaut we’re looking for could be useful in helping „Breaking down structures.“

Gender sociologist Maria Funder sees only gender stereotypes at work. „Being able to be a pope or an astronaut is not a question of genes.“ Once women have entered a male-dominated field, a revolving door effect often sets in: they switch back to female-typical professions. A female astronaut could be a „role model“. However, she would not be in a comfortable situation because she would be confronted with too many demands.

(They just don’t know it yet, but the ladies don’t have to worry: to get into space, women have no greater difficulties than men. Nature has equality firmly built in here. It remains unclear how those involved in the casting will sort themselves to the states of consciousness of § 54: Deceiver – Deceived Deceiver – Deceived. Informed ones do not seem to be involved.)“ [End of quote]

Today we would explain the firmly built in equality even more precisely: no male and no female would come back alive from space.

Astronaut as „role model“ a model – for space fraud?

Now several space experts have taken up the cause:
– the federal government;
– the interviewer from SPIEGEL-Online;
– Minister Zypries;
– ESA Chief Wörner;
– Personnel service provider for aerospace specialists „HE Space“;
– Sociologist Nina Degele;
– Gender sociologist Maria Funder.
The urgency for a German astronaut actress is growing. The question of tax money remains completely unclear:

„HE Space“, the personnel service provider for aerospace specialists, has announced a casting call. The first German female astronaut is being sought. The offer is a flight to the ISS before the year 2020.“

Since half a year we know that only NASA, ESA and ROSKOSMOS can occupy seats on the ISS. Who offers a German „female astronaut“ a flight to the ISS: the German government or ESA? Who pays for the „casting“, because HE-Space probably does not work for a free? Does the federal government pay? Who pays for astro education? Does the federal government pay? Will anyone dare to ask these questions?

The missed chance of a female astronaut 1990

Interesting clarification about the reason for the missing German „female astronaut“ comes a few days later from a reader of TAGESSPIEGEL, Gerhard Kowalski, on March 13, 2016:

„Germany could have had a female astronaut already in the early 1990s. The fact that it did not come to this is solely due to the two candidates Renate Brümmer and Heike Walpot, who at the space congress 1990 in Dresden were presented. I myself was there. The reason: The two women were not ready to present themselves to the Russian doctors at the Cosmonaut Training Center (ZPK) „Yuri Gagarin“ in the „Star City“ near Moscow, who had to check their suitability for a flight to the MIR space station. If Brümmer and Walpot had seriously wanted, one of them would have been the first female German in space.“

Yes, but only if there had been a space station! Because nobody could come back from an orbit in one piece, there has never been one, until today.

„Black-red-gold in space“ – now through sponsoring!

On May 23rd, 2016, Ralf Nestler writes in the TAGESSPIEGEL:

„Black-red-gold in space – The number of German space travelers could increase in the coming years. After Alexander Gerst, a female astronaut is to fly to the ISS space station. The moon is also a goal.„

And about the female candidates for „the female astronaut“:
„Challenging sports such as skydiving or diving earn the applicants extra points, as do presentation skills – after all, the mission is to be FINANCED BY SPONSORING, so the female astronaut should make as positive an impression as possible. There are no fixed advertising partners yet, says Kessler, whose main job is managing a personnel service company for the space industry. … The advertising is to be placed discreetly, the OVERALL OF THE FEMALE ASTRONAUT WILL NOT LOOK LIKE THAT OF A FORMULA 1-DRIVER or a soccer jersey, she says.“

The biggest concern seems to be what the jumpsuit looks like. That is entirely appropriate to the state of the art in manned spaceflight.

Excellent science is on board with human spaceflight:
„Space physician Hanns-Christian Gunga of Berlin’s Charité is currently developing a research program for the seven- to ten-day flight and its effect on the female body.“ Gunga may be a believer in manned spaceflight comedy. One would have to ask.

The „Female Astronaut“ project is to be financed by experiments on the ISS. ESA and the German Center for Airtransport and Space Flight (DLR) are to help:

„The big items – training and flights – have to be paid for by the company itself. Kessler estimates that this will cost between 30 and 40 MILLION EURO. In addition to the Russian „Soyuz“ capsule, the „Dragon“ spacecraft of the U.S. company SPACEX, which plans to offer flights to the ISS in a few years, could also be used for the transport. According to experience, at combat prices, that would be very convenient for the initiative „The Female Astronaut.““

„In total, the German government is spending about 1.4 billion euros in 2016, with manned spaceflight accounting for 173 millions of euros.“

About the immense cost of the ISS: „Russia does not publish figures, only the „western“ part of the station has cost more than 100 billions of dollars.“

Where have the funds gone? Nothing can be spent on manned space flight!

Thus, the reporting on the initiative „The Female Astronaut“ also brings to light more precise sums of money. I wonder if anyone will ever be interested in the German money involved in this insanity? Perhaps the deciding bodies, e.g. a Bundestag committee? Who in parliament can put a question to the federal government that must be answered? When did the parliament exercise its budgetary right – its most noble right – and decide on the appropriation of funds for manned space flight?

The true motivation for staging an illusion

Initially, it would only be about the 173 million euros for 1916 – that’s 173.000.000 euros. What were they spent on? What material expenses? What personnel expenses? Which companies received which sums for which products? Since there cannot be a manned space flight according to the available proofs and therefore it does not exist, at least the sponsors = citizens as taxpayers would have to be interested in the whereabouts of the money. Is there a federation of the taxpayers? Sometimes you read in the newspaper his regret that somewhere they spent 100.000 euros nonsensically. They just tell us jokes.

In any case, every citizen can now imagine more precisely how elegantly huge sums for a „manned space flight“, which cannot be spent for a manned space flight at all, can be dragged away into channels nobody knows. Thus we have the true motivation for the staging of an Illusion.

Maybe 1,5 billion of euros in 10 years?

The 173 million euros are only the money for 2016. If one assumes that an amount in the order of 150 million annually over 10 years already amounts to 1,5 billions, then the question of money should become interesting at some point? Germany has been involved through the ESA for a long time! One could investigate and then add up!

„All of this is necessary“ – „The future of space travel is female.“

A quarter of a year after „Schwarz-Rot-Gold im All“, again in the TAGESSPIEGEL of September 15, 2016, Christian Vooren writes the article:
„All of this is necessary – Until 2020 the first German female astronaut shall fly into space. The requirements are enormous.“

„There has never been a German woman in space.“ But things are about to change: „The project is simply called „The Female Astronaut“ and aims to send the first German woman to the International Space Station (ISS) for ten days by 2020.“ And describes the procedures of the project in detail.

DLR, a registered association, will conduct the selection process. 400 female candidates applied for the job, and 90 have been chosen for a first selection. „Yesterday they were presented in Berlin.“ They have to pass various tests. Of them, the best 30 will be judged on resilience, motivation and teamwork skills after individual and group interviews. From them 10 candidates are selected and subjected to intensive medical examinations. The two most suitable will enter astronaut training as „finalists“, and one of the two will fly to the ISS, the other will be a deputy. State Secretary in the Ministry of Economics Brigitte Zypries delivered a lecture entitled: „The Future of Space Flight is Female.“

Do you know who „DLR“ is?

The abbreviation stands for „German Center for Aviation and Space travel“, is an „e.V.“, a registered association that can be founded by seven private individuals and can do whatever it wants completely uncontrolled. This association does a few billions euros worth of business yearly: is that possible? Where do the billions come from?

Does anyone know? No one is interested. The association’s articles of association are not on the Internet. The ADAC, our automobilistic association, did the same, and the matter went to court. The DLR would never come to court: because in one of its commissions sits a representative of the Federal Chancellery! And he decides with the sending of astronauts into space!

Has the federal government formed an association with itself to organize a fraud?

The name „German Center for Aviation and Space travel“, actually sounds like a national authority of the Federal Republic – but why organized under private law? So that only the few private members are liable and not the Federal Republic? Is the DLR actually audited and supervised by the Federal Audit Office? Or are the auditors of the Federal Audit Office not allowed to audit private organizations?

Then we would never know what the 173 million euros in 2016 were really spent on and to whom. The DLR fits very well to the „manned spaceflight“: both opaque, both organized and pushed by the federal government, but only the DLR is real and is supposed to transfer something of its reality to the space fantasy by helpful confusions and feigned official certification (Federal Chancellery!). Everybody says to himself: There must be everything in order!

„All inclusive“

„Nicola Baumann is one of three women in Germany who can fly the Eurofighter. Now the young pilot wants to trade it for a missile. The story of an obsession„

The TAGESSPIEGEL of January 24, 2017 publishes an article about Nicola Baumann, which reveals her career and her inner attitudes towards flying, space, risks and her strongest desires from her own statements. The reporter Christian Vooren, who visited and interviewed Baumann at her airforce basis in Nörvenich, describes Baumann’s unconditional desire to fly into space as an obsession.

There are really only three critical questions before we compile Baumann’s main self-statements. One concerns the title of the article, which is open to interpretation; another the large panorama photo above the article; the third goes to the motives of highlighting and building up media coverage of one of the 10 applicants as a great national heroine as early as January 2017, even though the selection decision will not be made until April: can this be coincidence, even though of course her pilot qualification is a great asset to her in the eyes of journalists and also the public?

But it remains an anticipation, for which there may be a hint from the circles of the
„registered association“ or the Federal Chancellor’s Office. As the whole hullabaloo about the „female astronaut“ is pure media makings, one may also look at this small premature „canonization“ not believing in coincidence.

This is supposed to be a photo? Where, when, of what, by whom and with which camera?

A photo floats above the article, across the width of the page, showing a view from the ISS’s flight altitude – 400 km – of the globe, its gentle curve blurred on the horizon, and on the right edge of the image, seen from the outside, components of the ISS with solar panels, illuminated from the left with full sunlight, taken close up, a few dozen meters away perhaps. The source of the image is given as:
„Photo: picture alliance / dpa“
What does this alleged „photo“ show? Who was at the place suggested by the picture? Who took it, when and where?

We ask these questions only so that the public gradually realizes that the mass media, and especially those who like to declare themselves „reputable“ and are in fact reporting submissively about the government, do lie already in the photos, if a fraud must be covered absolutely. NASA does it a bit more clever: they often write „artistic image“ or something similar, that is not contestable. TAGESSPIEGEL and dpa haven’t learned that yet and write crossly „Photo“ where there can be no photo at all: no ISS, no spacewalk, no person and no camera at the claimed location 400 km up. But with Photoshop you can get anywhere, even into space! That’s just by the way.

A character image of the future „female astronaut“

It suffices to compile the essential self-statements of Baumann, a fighter pilot in the Bundeswehr with the rank of captain. They speak for themselves, without major internal contradictions that could invite interpretation.

„“That moment when you’re pressed into the seat and take off, that’s one of the best feelings ever,“ the pilot says.“

„The goal was always space.“ And in Nörvenich, the oldest air base of the German Air Force, no one has been laughing for a long time when Frau Hauptmann says something like that.“

„Everyone in Nörvenich calls Captain Baumann just Nicola; no one has to salute her or stand at attention. Everyone at the air base is on a first-name basis.“

„Mrs. Hauptmann says: my goal was always space.“

„She’s banking on her persistence. „I planned to keep bugging the Esa until they eventually invited me.““

„Baumann doesn’t care that some people think the project is a gigantic publicity stunt – „As long as I can go into space as a full member of a team and make a contribution up there.““

She doesn’t care about the noble research goals of ESA, Charité (medical center at Berlin) and others:

„The goal was always space.“

„The dream that most children eventually grow out of became more powerful in her case, growing into an obsession, Even as a teenager, flying was always on her mind …“

„To this day, Amelia Earhart is her great role model: the first woman to cross the Atlantic 1932 in solo flight.“

„She even suffers from a fear of heights and doesn’t like to stand on high ladders. But as soon as she sits in the cockpit of her plane, her fear disappears. „I just trust the technology there,“ she says.“

Baumann is a rational person. Her favorite movie: „Pearl Harbor“, of course, way too cheesy: „“But the flying scenes“! Who cares about the plot?“

Since 2004 with the Bundeswehr. – During a training stay with the Bundeswehr in Texas, she met her husband, but then had to return to Germany, he stayed there, they lead a long-distance marriage.

„She knows for years that there are two paths to space: one through the Air Force, another through science.“

Interesting side note:
„Alexander Gerst, who created space hype in Germany in 2014 with his Twitter messages and videos from the space station, came to space via science.“

Baumann is pursuing both paths: fighter pilot and Open University. When meeting the other applicants for the first time at „The Female Astronaut“:
„“This is where I finally meet other women who have the same goal as me, who are so passionate about it,“ Baumann says.““

Tests in the process of application: „What exactly is being queried is being kept top secret by DLR. „We have all signed confidentiality clauses,“ Baumann says.“

We wonder, of course, what exactly is subject to secrecy; it is not communicated, but would be interesting to know. Perhaps the non-existence of manned space flight is also part of it? It would be only logical. Such a secrecy requirement could be formulated in a very hidden or cloistered way, especially since in the initial situation it could not be recognized as a possibility by the signatories.

„Why would anyone want to risk their life to work in space? For Baumann, it’s the fascination of pushing the limits of humanity. To the limits of what is possible. „Just like polar explorers used to do,“ she says.“

„“If I go into space and something goes wrong, at least the rocket shouldn’t burn up until I’m on my way back,“ she says. „At least I want to have seen it up there once.„“ Sentences that could break up many a marriage. Her own husband thinks more like her: „He always says it would be pretty cool to be married to an astronaut.““

The private initiative „The female Astronaut“ offered a new perspective. One asks oneself, what is private about it? This is just a puppet on the strings of the Federal Chancellery, which is still not called the Female Federal Chancellery, possibly with a capital I in the middle (Bundeskanzlerinnenamt). Are the gender people in this country asleep?

Very close to the goal of their dreams

The TAGESSPIEGEL of April 20th, 2017, with a large article, again by Christian Vooren and a large photo of the two winners with their beaming faces in front of the Brandenburg Gate (Berlin) in the background:

„Very Close to the goal of their dreams – Who will be the first female German astronaut to fly into space? The two winners have now been determined“

„Baumann will be Germany’s first female astronaut – just like Insa Thiele-Eich. Both will start training together in preparation for the space flight.“

„Federal Minister of Economics Brigitte Zypries (SPD), who is also the coordinator for aerospace, therefore says at the start of the event: „We know that we will only shape the future if we get better at technical subjects.“ That’s meant as praise, but Zypries mentions right away that the support from the German government could merely be non-material; no money will flow.“ As we see further down in this article, money is flowing from the „registered association“ DLR and from the Charité – not government money?

The initiator of the initiative „The Female Astronaut“ is Claudia Kessler. „“After the hype surrounding Alexauder Gerst, I thought the only way we could top that was to send a woman into space,“ says Kessler.“

„30 million euros have been budgeted for it, to be paid for out of private pockets. It depends on whether the project can ever be realized. Backers are now being sought via crowdfunding, and some major sponsors are already on board. But the biggest chunk still needs to be collected.“ – Pledges have already been received from the company Nike, the „registered association“ DLR and the Charité – but, as said and promised, government funds will not flow. And that’s what they want us to believe: that not one euro cent of the 173 million euros for 1916 will be diverted to the nationalist-feminist project? They think we are all stupid.

„The female astronauts have to be physically fit, they learn the theoretical stuff about the ISS and everything they need to know about space travel, and they also practice landing from space, because that is not exactly gentle. And if something should go wrong during the splashdown in the sea, the astronaut must be able to swim with her heavy space suit. If the next ISS mission starts from Russia, a Russian language course is also on the program.“

„Insa Thiele-Eich, the other candidate, is a meteorologist and also the daughter of Gerhard Thiek, who himself was an astronaut in space during the year 2000. It will not be decided between the two until one year before the launch which of them will enter the race as „prime“ and which as „backup“. Only one of them may fly, the other is a backup.“

The two finalists, Baumann and Thiele-Eich, are not treated quite equally in the article, although the decision as to who will fly is to be made only a year before the flight. Baumann’s career is discussed once again, and the fact that she prevailed over the other fighter pilot among the applicants. From Thiele-Eich we only learn something about her father. Baumann is always the favorite of the mass media.

„Off into space“

FAZ in an article of June 3rd, 2017 informs about the possibilities to become an astronaut:

„For space seekers, there is no typical training, no astronaut academy they can attend. But how then to become an astronaut? And how realistic is the career aspiration? By Anne Fischer.“

The main contributor is Ulrich Walter, Professor of Astronautics and Chair of Astronautics at the Technical University of Munich, who is one of the 11 German astronauts who have flown into space so far. The last third reports on the two winners of the competition, Baumann and Thiele-Eich.

„Baumann also advises broadening the focus: „Commercial companies such as SpaceX are increasingly investing in space travel; they, too, are attractive employers because they bring a lot of exploratory drive and a liberal culture of error. I also personally always think: „I’m not going to say no to myself, I’m going to try to come in as much as possible. Someone has to do this job – why shouldn’t it be me?““

The unknown, possible reasons for the exit

The list of utilized articles on the career:

• 10. Sept. 2015 – Esa-Chef Wörner: Wie Deutschland endlich eine Astronautin
  bekommen kann in SPIEGEL Online.
• 6. March 2016 – Gesucht: Die erste deutsche Astronautin in the TAGESSPIEGEL.
• 13. March 2016 – Leserbrief von Gerhard Kowalski in the TAGESSPIEGEL.
• 23. May 2016 – Schwarz-Rot-Gold im All in the TAGESSPIEGEL.
• 15. Sept. 2016 – All das ist nötig in the TAGESSPIEGEL.
• 24. Jan. 2017 – All inclusive in the TAGESSPIEGEL.
• 20. April 2017 – Dem Ziel ihrer Träume ganz nah in the TAGESSPIEGEL.
• 3. June 2017 – Ab ins All in the FAZ.

Baumann’s image in the media

Through numerous self-statements by Nicola Baumann, comments by her colleague Insa Thiele-Eich and impressions by the reporting journalists, they convey the image of a strong personality who, since her youth, also encouraged by the aviation-affinity activities of her family members, has single-mindedly and resolutely pursued the desire to fly into space. In preparation, she becomes a pilot in the German Armed Forces, simultaneously begins a correspondence course in space technology and waits for an opportunity to apply for training as an astronaut.

The decision to exit

The mass media, following the declared example of the media hype of Alexander Gerst, fueled by the nationalist-feminist forces in politics and the media, have invented and exaggerated the media hype „Nicola Baumann“ at the request of many. There are some indications that the Federal Chancellery is pulling the strings via its private „registered association“, with the nationally committed ESA boss Wörner (an Italian woman on the ISS is not enough for him, it has to be a German!) and the feministically committed responsible State Secretary for Economic Affairs Brigitte Zypries and her lecture: „The future of space travel is female.“ Already in January, the TAGESSPIEGEL knows how the hare of the selection will run in April and writes a report and interview with the winner, although there will be two and the public does not even know yet which two it will be.

The propaganda machine has told us: We are all eagerly waiting for a German woman in the ISS! Finally someone has been found for whom space travel is even an obsession! In the height of this declared media hype, our nationalists and feminists are shocked by an abrupt cancellation of astronaut training by, of all people, the highly praised „Baumann“, visibly favored in the media and already seen between the lines as the „first female German“ on the ISS. There are heavy signals of disappointment (has quit …), but not a single signal to search for the reasons.

At this point, the critics are the only ones who can possibly provide the reasons, because they know the sweet trade secret of human spaceflight: its non-existence. And the critics can also say them publicly, because they have not signed any secrecy clauses.

Reflections on how it might have gone

We see different approaches; nobody knows which one and when it might have worked. We also do not know priorities according to probability: therefore the order has no meaning. We only take a plausible outline from the general to the specific and count through continuously.

1. Given the candidate’s stable and optimistic frame of mind, she would probably be able to address problems in her personal or family life. There would also be no months-long conversations with the colleague about such problems, the subject of which would have to be kept secret.

2. There is an interesting chronological delimitation of when the idea to exit will have come about, which at the same time also suggests a factual level. In May, the intensive training began, and the colleague Thiele-Eich says in the FAZ interview on December 16:

„She didn’t just decide on Thursday. We’ve always been in close contact over the last few months and talked a lot about whether she should take this step. Sometimes there are reasons to take other paths. I can understand them well, even if they don’t apply to me.“

According to this, the two candidates could have been talking about the reasons for leaving since about September. Taking into account that the candidate started her training optimistically after all, it becomes probable that the reasons for quitting emerged only in the course of the training, perhaps in the course of June/July/August, and that they originated from the astronaut training.

3. The silence of both the candidate and her colleague about the reasons for the exit is a clear indication of the seriousness of the reasons. A spokeswoman for the initiative „The Femal Astronaut“ (TAGESSPIEGEL, 15.12.17) also did not want to „name the reasons ….“ If this formulation was chosen carefully, however, the initiative seems to know the reasons.

The strict silence of all parties involved could be related to the confidentiality clauses mentioned by Baumann, which all female candidates (TAGESSPIEGEL v. 24.1.17: „All inclusive“) already had to sign during the tests for selection:
„What exactly is being queried is kept top secret by DLR. „We have all signed confidentiality clauses,“ says Baumann.“

These signed clauses are not known. It is possible that these clauses also extend to information obtained later in the training and gained findings. This, after all, could be asked of Ms. Baumann, it should not be subject to secrecy.

4. The colleague’s understanding of the candidate’s reasons, as expressed by Ms. Thiele-Eich, is another moment that speaks to the origin of the reasons in the astronaut training:

„Sometimes there are reasons to take different paths. I can understand them well, even if they don’t apply to me.“

5. In her statements on the reasons, the candidate at least mentioned an alternative perspective, which is also mentioned by her colleague: the „other ways“ she can go.

This point of view is obviously unrealistic, so it can only be considered as an excuse and distraction of the public. Seats on the alleged ISS are only allocated by NASA, ESA and ROSKOSMOS, there is no third party. And that one of these space agencies would ever hire a candidate who has already dropped out of a training course is quite unlikely. We won’t go into Elon Musk’s Space-X company, which she herself mentioned.

Ms. Baumann’s intention to continue to pursue her goal of space travel: „But, fortunately, there are many commercial and government alternatives“ seems pretextual and implausible. Where have the years of striving and persistence („Mrs. Hauptmann says: My goal was always space.“) gone, where the obsession diagnosed by the reporter? The strong motives (space flight, emulating polar explorers, the Atlantic crosser Amelia Earhart as a role model) cannot have been overcome by organizational or technical problems that can be solved in principle: they must have encountered unsolvable problems for which even the colleague has understanding.

6. As critics we already draw an intermediate balance after the results of our interpretation of the media so far. We come to the conclusion that the reason to quit for Mrs. Baumann can only be the realization that there is no manned space flight at all and that her present education is only an education to become an astronaut actor, who is supposed to play along, maintain and continue the gigantic deception of the public in the media against princely reward. It is obvious to critics that Ms. Baumann has stumbled upon the sweet secret of manned spaceflight.

This diametrically contradicts her view of life with commitment to real achievements and with role models who were not fraudsters, and finally also her well-earned career in the Bundeswehr. An existence as a financially appropriately sustained big-time cheater and cheating star is out of the question for someone like Ms. Baumann, and that’s why she’s getting out.

For our assessment of the reasons, the question now arises as to which information, considerations, and experiences in her environment Ms. Baumann was influenced by in
the quarter of the year in question.

7. Conversations with strangers about the fake moon landing often come to the point: „And that the Americans never flew back and built up something there, that alone already proves the fraud of the moon story!“ That the US empire would have voluntarily renounced somewhere to spread, is considered for many people as so improbable that from this alone already the fraud seems to be proved to them.

There is a less widespread parallel realization to this: if the USA had actually been able to carry out the moon landing, then the USSR would have long since also worked on it itself and would also have landed on the moon. The great rival USSR and today’s Russia have the same spaceflight capabilities as the USA and, despite rivalry, has not landed men on the moon. If there was a technical possibility for a flight to the moon and landing of humans, the USSR/Russia would have already done it after 45 years.

That Russia did not do it is a strong indication of non-feasibility, though not yet proof. There could also be economic reasons that spoke against a moon landing. But as an indirect confirmation of the moonwalk lie, Russia’s renunciation carries weight. Both facts together can make suspicious and skeptical against any claim of manned space flight.

8. At the Bundeswehr base in Nörvenich, Baumann’s ambitions have long been the talk among his fellow pilots. They all fly the Eurofighter and therefore have a strongly developed awareness of speeds and their consequences (acceleration and inertial forces are not important now). According to Wikipedia, the „Eurofighter Typhoon“ is an aircraft designed for Mach 1,6 as maximum maneuvering speed. The Austrian Armed Forces, at 10.975 m altitude have achieved a speed of 2.495 km/h, which corresponds to Mach 2,35. Wikipedia explains about the speed of sound and supersonic speed:

„Speed of sound under normal conditions (air at 15 °C) is 343 m/s, which corresponds to 1233,432 km/h.“
„The relative speed of an object to the speed of sound in air is also denoted by the dimensionless Mach number, thus Mach 1 means motion at the speed of sound, Mach 2 means motion at twice the speed of sound …“

We compile characteristic values in a small table:

343 m/sec = approx. 1233 km/h = Mach 1

343*2 = 686 m/sec = approx. 2466 km/h = Mach 2

343*3 = 1029 m/sec = approx. 3699 km/h = Mach 3

343*5 = 1715 m/sec = approx. 6165 km/h = Mach 5

343*7 = 2401 m/sec = approx. 8631 km/h = Mach 7

343*20 = 6860 m/sec = approx. 24660 km/h = Mach 20

343*21 = 7203 m/sec = approx. 25893 km/h = Mach 21

343*22 = 7546 m/sec = approx. 27126 km/h = Mach 22

343*23 = 7889 m/sec = approx. 28359 km/h = Mach 23

Baumann’s colleagues will have discussed at some point in their conversations the speed of Baumann’s future workplace, the alleged ISS, of 28,000 kilometers per hour (astronews.com), which is reported on Internet pages. They know that above 50 km the air is already too thin to allow aerodynamic flight. They will put the cosmic speed of the ISS in relation to their range of experience and ask themselves or even their colleague: Nicola, in the ISS you fly at least at Mach 22, which is ten times what we fly – how do you get back down there?

For people who are trained in technical physics, this question naturally leads to the energy development of a spacecraft during its return flight to Earth. They will find what Anders Björkman has been calculating for his audience for years: depending on the mass (weight) of the spacecraft (not less than 3 tons), it will start the return flight with a kinetic energy around 100 GigaJoule. You can then consider how to release this kinetic energy back into the environment by the time it lands on Earth. Astronauts in training can ask their instructors.

9. Also at the Bundeswehr base in Nörvenich among fellow pilots, the issue of cosmic radiation at 400 km altitude may have been discussed. Fighter pilots have different altitudes and flight durations than commercial aviation, but fighter pilots will also have heard about the risk to fellow pilots in international air traffic from cosmic radiation: Pilots suffer relatively often from lens opacity (cataracts) as a result, but also from chromosomal damage – and that at 12 km altitude. Pilots of all operational areas will read all technical journals with interest Therefore, it is quite obvious that the pilot colleagues have also asked Ms. Baumann about the radiation exposure at her future workplace at 400 km altitude.

One does not even have to assume that the pilot colleagues found the NASA information on the Internet that there is a radiation dose of 12 microsieverts per hour on the ISS. Because then they would have asked their colleague how it can be that the radiation dose on the ISS at 400 km is exactly as high as that on an intercontinental flight at an altitude of 12 km?

10. Cockiness of NASA-ESA sophomores as supervisors and instructors of the new candidates due to the decades-long success of the gigantic deception of the public could lead to frivolous behavior, loose talk and jokes about the subject matter of the training. Such behavior could lead to critical distancing among the newcomers.

Relatively early on, there had been an example of loose mouth in the U.S. crew of would-be astronauts by Grissom, who was very unhappy with the progress of the project and had probably hung a lemon on the window of their spacecraft. Coincidentally, he and two colleagues burned up on the ground during a test because the experiments‘ director had put pure oxygen into the atmosphere in the cabin. Strikingly quickly, the FBI was subsequently at his apartment and confiscated his belongings.

11. Assuming that our assumption about the reasons for Baumann’s move is correct, then
    there are also considerations about her colleague. Baumann’s probable discovery of the unreality of manned space flight and the decision to quit must also have been very stressful for her colleague Thiele-Eich. Because as the daughter of the astronaut Gerhard Thiek, who claims to have already been in space, Baumann’s exit puts her in a conflict of loyalties with her self-image, her image of her father, and the organizer.

Since no one knows whether the alleged astronaut Thiek enlightened his family about the true nature of his activity or left them in the general superstition of high-flying spaceships and astronauts in space, it is not possible at all to judge with which attitude and opinion Mrs. Thiele-Eich may have discussed with Mrs. Baumann for months. After all, she says she has understanding for Baumann’s reasons.

12. Finally, the formation of opinion in the space agencies and at the initiative „The Female Astronaut“ must also be considered, who know the real reason for Baumann’s exit. They must be alarmed by Baumann’s step in several respects: it is, regardless of all appeasements and distractions in Baumann’s public statements, a drastic vote of no confidence against manned spaceflight.

Particularly painful will be the realization: the greater the hype about the candidates in the media, the greater the disappointment and embarrassment in the case of a „failure“. Perhaps in the future one will wait with the space hype until the candidate is „integrated“ into the fraud and accepts his role.

In the eyes of the powers-that-be as clients of the space agencies, German authorities and organizers thus stand there as weak watchdogs, and the colleague Thiele- Eich as a potentially likewise unsafe candidate and as a confidant of the true reasons for Baumann’s exit a permanent security risk for the entire industry, because after the éclat, all persons involved will be observed more attentively by the public. Indirect negative effects on candidates in other astronaut training programs cannot be ruled out either.

Much will depend on the disaster management of the Germans, whether the completely unforeseen, unprecedented and therefore spectacular exit of a prospective astronaut could have an impact on the wonderful international cooperation. Leaks can cause major collapses in this fraud industry. When trust collapses, it collapses here for all international contributors. In the diesel scandal, individual companies could still argue that they did not participate. This fragmentation does not exist in space fraud.

There is one thing that all selection committees for space travel should have learned by now and made a note of: do not accept really strong, independently acting persons as candidates, but only those with small weaknesses, tractable and capable of horse trading, tending towards „corruption in exchange for good pay“, because they rely only on spaceflight and their careers depend entirely on spaceflight: if they dropped out, they would be left with nothing. The scientists will develop the right tests for this. A very last thought is wasted on the sponsors and their money: they measure everything anyway only by the possibilities of media exploitation.

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Balthasar has great respect for Mrs. Baumann and her decision, whatever the reason may have been.

B., Dec. 28, 2017

[This translation of March 3, 2022 has been made with support from online translation services.]

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