Steve Bornhöft and his team ensured astronauts set off safely around the Moon; Artemis II safety role by German engineer

Steve Bornhöft and his team ensured astronauts set off safely around the Moon; Artemis II safety role by German engineer

Aerospace engineer: Ensuring the safety of astronauts — Studies — TU Dresden

Aerospace engineer: Ensuring the safety of astronauts

Steve Bornhöft and his team ensured that astronauts set off safely on their flight around the moon this spring.

It was in GDR cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn’s (the first German in space) hometown that Steve Bornhöft discovered his fascination for technology and flying. Today, Steve Bornhöft is an aerospace engineer at Airbus. His work is helping to ensure that people can fly to the Moon and survive there. As such, he plays a key role in supporting NASA’s Artemis lunar mission.

In spring 2026, Stephan Schön, Science Editor at the Sächsische Zeitung , wrote, “NASA’s manned Artemis 2 mission has taken off for the Moon. The last time people went there was almost 54 years ago. After all those years, astronauts are on their way to the Moon again. Never before have people been so far away from Earth, so far out into space. They will see the side of the Moon that we cannot see from Earth. They will not land. They will fly around it. But the purpose of this flight is to prepare for landing and to test all of the Orion spacecraft’s systems for the first time. Steve Bornhöft, an aerospace engineer from the Ore Mountains, works to ensure that they make it into space at all. He studied Aerospace Engineering at TU Dresden before setting off from Burkhardtsdorf toward the Moon.”

Before starting his final years of high school, Steve Bornhöft, who is now 47, wondered if he should become a pilot. Except for going on holiday, Steve Bornhöft had never flown before. He was born in Chemnitz (known as Karl-Marx-Stadt in the former GDR) and grew up in Burkhardtsdorf in the Ore Mountains. He become interested in flying at a relatively early age. “I grew up watching Sigmund Jähn ,” he says. Sigmund Jähn was the first German to fly into space and he was from Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, which is about 50 kilometers away from Burkhardtsdorf. Today, visitors can tour the German Space Travel Exhibition in Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz.

As the senior cleanroom manager at Airbus Bremen, Steve Bornhöft is involved in the Artemis project.

While serving in the German Armed Forces, Steve Bornhöft decided to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering at TUD Dresden University of Technology. “I can’t say exactly where my early enthusiasm for technology and flying came from. It was a dream,” he says. When he began studying in fall 2001, he initially focused on aircraft design: “Spaceflight was still a bit of an abstract concept to me.” There were only very few degree programs in this field. Dresden was close to his home and his family and, “The uni already had a very good reputation, even back then. And it was a Diplom degree program.” The highly flexible program design was also a major selling point. “You didn’t have to decide on a specific specialization until later on in your studies, so you could gain some experience at the university before having to make a final decision.” After completing his foundation studies in Mechanical Engineering, which involved a lot of math and technology, Steve Bornhöft decided to pursue Aerospace Engineering , one of the twelve different specializations available in Mechanical Engineering, which included courses on aircraft and spacecraft design and fluid mechanics. The number of mechanical engineering students, which was around 800 at the start, had dropped to about 100 by the end of the fourth semester. Thirty students earned their Diplom in Aerospace Engineering. Steve Bornhöft has, in fact, taken to the skies since then: In an glider aircraft with Akaflieg, which is the Academic Flying Club at TU Dresden.

Career at Airbus began during his studies

Steve Bornhöft saw his first spacecraft up close three years after starting his studies, when he attended a summer school in Star City, Moscow Oblast, in 2004. “My career began while I was still in university,” he says. An internship at Airbus Hamburg was followed by one semester of academic leave to work full-time as a student trainee, and finally a thesis at EADS Bremen. In this paper, he addressed the issue of non-destructive bond testing to verify the integrity of the outer surface of aircraft. Since graduating in 2009, Steve Bornhöft has been employed by Airbus Defence and Space. What he learned during university has stood him in good stead: “It’s always good to be able to draw on the fundamentals you’ve learned and to understand how things fit together. However, the in-depth, specific knowledge that I can actually apply is somewhat limited.”

For some time, he worked on drone technology, and he spent ten years working on the Columbus project . “All the tests for the International Space Station research module passed through my hands,” he tells us. He has been involved in Project Artemis since 2017. This project, which is NASA-affiliated, aims to return humans to the moon. Why is this important? In short: “As we prepare to return to the Moon’s surface, Europe is not only charting a course but also helping to pave the way for future generations. By proving that the impossible is within our reach, we’re igniting the spark that will encourage the pioneers of tomorrow to embrace dreams that transcend the individual and inspire us all to go further than we could ever go alone.”

Key Components of the ESM for NASA’s Orion Spacecraft

Survival module for space travel

In 2022, Artemis I traveled unmanned around the moon. On the Artemis II mission, a four-person crew orbited the Moon in February 2026. The second European Service Module (ESM), manufactured in Bremen, was also on board. This propulsion and life support module controls electricity, temperature, water, and oxygen, as well as the astronauts’ life support systems. “It’s the survival module,” says Steve Bornhöft, who, along with his team, is responsible for assembly and testing. “We make sure that everything is assembled in the correct order, on time, and to the right quality standards. The module will be integrated into the spacecraft in the United States.” He himself visits the USA regularly, specifically Cape Canaveral, where one or two rockets launch every day. He is in awe every time.

While work is currently underway on the third and fourth modules in the USA, the fifth and sixth modules for the lunar mission are being built at Airbus Defense and Space in Bremen. In his day-to-day work, Steve Bornhöft spends a lot of time on the computer, and as a specialist, he spends 60 percent of his time working in the cleanroom, where he and other engineers provide support to the mechanics. There are over 20,000 project components and individual parts to take into account, making this an enormous responsibility on which the lives of the astronaut crew depend. “The schedule is tight; 18 months are allocated for each module, which is quite a challenge,” he says. The next lunar mission, Artemis III, is scheduled to take place in 2027; on Artemis IV, astronauts will land on the Moon for the first time since 1972.

Main Responsibilities of the ESM

“At Airbus, everyone is on a first-name basis”

Steve Bornhöft doesn’t regret not becoming a pilot. There could be an opportunity to fly with Airbus. It isn’t a priority for him anymore. His career is focused on space travel. “I never would have imagined that this would fascinate me more than flying one day,” he says. He strongly encourages young people interested in aviation to apply, both in his field of study and at his place of work, where everyone is on a first-name basis. And he knows that there are other TUD alumni working at the Airbus Group.

Last modified: Sep 01, 2026