"I'll be back": Astronaut Maurer ready for flight into space - will he be the first European on the moon?

At his last press conference in Europe for the time being, astronaut Maurer gives insights into his emotional life.

After hard training, the German ESA spaceman is happy that he will soon be going into space.

Cologne - underwater training in a heavy space suit and all in Russian: The endurance test in preparation for the German astronaut Matthias Maurer for his space flight planned for the end of October took place under water. The exercises were physically and mentally exhausting, said the 51-year-old Saarlander on Thursday in Cologne. If he gets out of space around 400 kilometers above the earth for the intended outdoor use, he has to be completely concentrated. “I don't want to drift away and become space junk,” says ESA astronaut Maurer.

On October 31, 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 six months.

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 in space.

Numerous experiments are planned there, for example to build muscle.

Astronaut Maurer: "Not quite as fit" in Russian as in English

He has prepared for the trip for almost 13 years - among other things with exercises under water, where astronauts train their work in weightlessness. “Of course I'm happy that the time has come,” said Maurer. “Now we are finally heading for the space mission.” Maurer will be the first German to go on a field 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."

Maurer wants to establish a new tradition: Just seven weeks before his planned flight, Maurer planted a tree in Cologne.

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."

Will Maurer become the first European on the moon?

Josef Aschbacher sees a lot of potential in Europe for the use and exploration of space. The ESA Director General said: “Europe has excellent technology and good engineers, this is a very good place to start”. There is a great need for space activities, such as navigation and telecommunications, and in areas such as energy, climate and agriculture. ESA definitely wants 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".

But there was already excitement: the news that an alarm signal had triggered an alarm signal on the ISS Rauch in a Russian segment could not upset Maurer. 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 of all generate a smoke alarm. That is not yet a fire alarm. ”Maurer will be flying to the USA in the next few days. As a farewell he promised in Cologne: "I'll be back."