German astronaut Maurer back in ISS after external mission

Created: 03/23/2022, 21:09

Matthias Maurer (l), German ESA astronaut, and Raja Chari, US NASA astronaut.

© Sven Hoppe/dpa

The German astronaut Matthias Maurer has returned to the International Space Station ISS after a seven-hour field mission.

Together with his US colleague Raja Chari, the Saarlander climbed back into the outpost of humanity on Wednesday, as shown by live images from the US space agency Nasa.

US astronauts Kayla Barron, Thomas Marshburn and Mark Vande Hei helped them.

Cologne/Houston – Maurer, still in his space suit, stretched his arms a little after boarding, jubilantly.

The two astronauts got out to attach new hoses to a cooling system, replace a camera and set up power and data connections on the external European research platform "Bartolomeo".

"We admire your tenacity and thank you for your work," said the control center at the end of the operation.

Maurer and Chari thanked their colleagues for their support.

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For ESA astronaut Maurer it was the first external mission at around 400 kilometers above the earth.

The Saarlander flew with three colleagues from the US space agency Nasa in a US spacecraft to the ISS on November 11, where he is to remain until the end of April.

The 52-year-old is the twelfth German in space and the fourth on the ISS.

His three predecessors on the outpost of humanity had also completed a meticulously planned and physically demanding field assignment: Thomas Reiter (2006), Hans Schlegel (2008) and Alexander Gerst (2014).

dpa