Jähn was born on 13 February 1937, in the town of Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, located within the Vogtland region of Saxony, Nazi Germany.

Jähn returned to his squadron, the Jagdfliegergeschwader 8, or Fighter Aviation Squad 8, two years later and remained there until 1960, when he and his team were relocated one last time to Marxwalde.

[1] In addition to Jähn's previous flying experience and expertise with the Russian language, he was selected for his early entry into the SED[1] program and his success coming from a blue-collar background.

The two candidates spent the next two years conducting mission-specific training and their physical health was closely monitored by physicians at the NVA's Institute for Aviation Medicine in preparation for their upcoming flight.

[8][9] On August 26, 1978, Jähn and his co-pilot, Valery Bykovsky flew aboard the Soyuz 31 to the Soviet space station Salyut 6.

The two men were greeted by resident cosmonauts Vladimir Kovalyonok and Aleksandr Ivanchenkov who arrived during the Soyuz 29 mission.

He also conducted medical experiments on how weightlessness affects speech, occupational psychological studies, testing the hearing sensitivity of regular crew members, biological experiments on cellular growth under weightlessness, and the connection between microorganisms with organic polymers and inorganic substances.

The report on the space flight was prepared like a general staffing brief: on the morning of August 26, 1978, the editors in chief of the GDR radio stations and newspapers all received three sealed and numbered letters.

Each one contained a different announcement depending on the outcome of the flight, whether it was successful, resulted in a fatal accident, or an emergency landing in enemy territory.

On Sunday, August 27, 1978, Neues Deutschland published a special edition newspaper with the headline "The First German in Space - A Citizen of the GDR".

An exhibition dedicated to space flight and aeronautics was constructed in the former train station of his home town Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz.

As part of an effort to prevent his mother from learning that the Berlin Wall came down while she was in a coma and that East Germany no longer exists as a separate nation, Kerner locates a taxi driver (played by Swiss actor Stefan Walz), who resembles the cosmonaut, to appear in a fake newscast as the successor of Communist Party Secretary Erich Honecker.

It aired as part of a special television program "Sigmund Jähn and the Heroes of the Stars" on the nights of February 12 and 13, 2017.

In 1983, Jähn received his doctorate of science in remote sensing of the Earth at the Zentralinstitut für Physik der Erde in Potsdam.

Jähn's doctoral thesis, among other topics, was based on the scientific preparations and evaluations of various kinds of flight missions.

Following the dissolution of the GDR on October 2, 1990,[20] he was relieved from duty alongside the last remaining command staff of the NVA, like Major General Lothar Engelhardt and Admiral Theodor Hoffmann.

He obtained this position with the support of his West German colleague Ulf Merbold and remained there for the following 15 years.

Sigmund Jähn lived in Strausberg with his wife, Erika Hänsel, and two daughters, Marina and Grit.

This was ultimately concealed by GDR news stations because his role as a grandfather wouldn't have conformed to the desired image the space agency wanted to promote.

It looked like a fire-breathing dragon, emitting a sea of flames and smoke.The rays from the five engines raged red, yellow, blue and violet.