Johann-Dietrich Wörner, born in 1954 in Kassel, Germany, has been president of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) since 2007. An engineer by training, Wörner became professor at the Technical University of Darmstadt (TH Darmstadt) in 1990 and served as president between 1995 and 2007. In February 2011, he was appointed by the government of the German state of Baden-Württemberg as mediator for the “Stuttgart 21” railway project.

As Russia and the world celebrated the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first flight into space, President Medvedev recently stated that space will remain a key priority in Russia’s efforts to modernize its economy. Professor Johann-Dietrich Wörner, chairman of the Executive Board of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) spoke to Modern Russia on the future of the Russian space program and on German-Russian relations in the aerospace sector.