At his official last press conference in Europe, astronaut Maurer gives insights into his emotional life. After hard training, the Esa spaceman is happy that it will be off into space in just under seven weeks.
[Cologne -] The underwater training in a heavy space suit and in Russian was the hardest part of the German astronaut Matthias Maurer’s preparation for his space flight planned for the end of October.
The exercises were physically and mentally exhausting, said the 51-year-old Saarlander on Thursday in Cologne. But he has to be fully concentrated when he gets out of space around 400 kilometers above the earth for the intended outdoor mission. “I don’t want to drift away and become space junk,” said the astronaut from the European Space Agency Esa.
Maurer is expected to fly from the USA with NASA astronauts Raja Chari and Thomas Marshburn as well as NASA astronaut Kayla Barron to the International Space Station ISS for half a year on October 31. He will then be the twelfth German in space and the fourth German on the ISS. The crew flies with a “Crew Dragon” spaceship from the private space company SpaceX to the outpost of humanity. Numerous experiments are planned there, for example to build muscle.
“Of course I’m happy that the time has come,” said Maurer. “Now we are finally heading for the space mission.” He has been preparing for the journey for almost 13 years – including with exercises under water, where astronauts train their work in weightlessness. Maurer will be the first German to do an outdoor assignment in a Russian spacesuit – an “outstanding adventure”, as he said. In Russian he is unfortunately “not quite as fit” as in English. “But when the going gets tough, an interpreter is available in the control center on Earth.”
Just seven weeks before his planned flight, Maurer planted a tree in Cologne and wants to establish a tradition with it. Before their space flight, astronauts had been planting a sapling at the Russian cosmodrome Baikonur in Kazakhstan for decades, he said. “And since I am not allowed to start from Kazakhstan, but with a completely new American capsule, I have expressed the wish that I too can plant a tree and thus perhaps start a new tradition here in the astronaut center.” The sweetgum is more than just a tree, said Mason. “It is also a symbol that space travel is growing – worldwide, but also in Europe.”
Europe’s head of space, Josef Aschbacher, sees a lot of potential in Europe for the use and exploration of space. “Europe has excellent technology and good engineers, which is a very good starting point,” said the Esa General Manager. There is a great need for space activities, for example in navigation and telecommunications, and in areas such as energy, climate and agriculture. Esa definitely wanted to send a person to the moon one day, said Aschbacher. Who this could be has not yet been decided. However, Maurer is “a fantastic candidate”.
The news that smoke had triggered an alarm signal in a Russian segment on the ISS attracted attention. Maurer reacted calmly. In contrast to the American side of the ISS, the system works a little differently on the Russian side. “Dust often gets into the optics there, these are optical sensors, and they then first generate a smoke alarm. That is not yet a fire alarm. ”Maurer will be flying to the USA to take off in the next few days. As a farewell he promised in Cologne: “I’ll be back.” [Dpa]
