The German political leader was joined by European Space Agency Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain in greeting the crew of STS-122 that included ESA astronaut Hans Schlegel and National Aeronautics and Space Administration astronauts Stephen Frick, Rex Walheim, Stanley Love, Alan Poindexter and Leland Melvin.

The informal Monday meeting took place at the Federal Chancellery in Berlin at the request of Merkel, who is a physicist by education, the ESA said.

The astronauts are in Europe as part of the STS-122 post-flight tour, and used the occasion to brief her on the technical and scientific results of their hugely successful mission, officials said.

The primary objective of the Feb. 7-20 STS-122 mission was to deliver the ESA's Columbus science laboratory to the International Space Station.