I am a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut. In 2014 I spent six months on the International Space Station for ESA's Blue Dot mission. I am now back in space on his second mission called Horizons where I will take over as Station commander for Expedition 57. I am a geophysicist and volcanologist.
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I have graduated from the Technical High School in Öhringen, Germany, in 1995. While in high school, I volunteered as a scout leader, firefighter, and water rescue lifeguard. I studied at the University of Karlsruhe (now Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Germany, where I received a degree in geophysics with distinction.
My BlogExpedition 40 was the 40th expedition to the International Space Station. A portion of the Expedition 39 crew transferred to Expedition 40 while the remainder of the crew launched on May 28, 2014 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Upon achieving orbit approximately nine minutes after launch, Soyuz TMA-13M, delivering the remainder of the crew, began a four-orbit rendezvous with the International Space Station. Soyuz TMA-13M subsequently docked with the Rassvet module of the ISS at 1:44 UTC on May 29.
Expedition 56 was the 56th expedition to the International Space Station, which began on June 3, 2018, upon the departure of Soyuz MS-07. Andrew Feustel, Oleg Artemyev, and Richard R. Arnold were transferred from Expedition 55, with Andrew Feustel taking the commander role. Alexander Gerst, Serena M. Auñón-Chancellor, and Sergey Prokopyev launched aboard Soyuz MS-09, on June 6, 2018. Expedition 56 ended with the departure of Soyuz MS-08 on October 4, 2018.