Germany is sending a man to ISS

Alexander Gerst a 38 year old German astronaut will join the International Space Station next week. He is already in Kazakhstan preparing for his mission. Gerst will spend about three months orbiting the Earth.

The German astronaut informed his followers on Twitter about the great news he received. “This finally made it real for me. I seven days, Maxim Suraev and I will fly to Space,” was his message on the famous mini bloging platform.

Gerst was selected as an astronaut for the European Space Agency five years ago and since then trained for multiple mission on the ISS. Before returning in November, Gerst must carry out multiple experiments. “There is a lot to research. Man has been exploring Earth for three million years but we've only been exploring space for 50 years,” Gerst said.

The flight to the Space Station scheduled on the 28th of May will carry U.S. Astronaut Reid Wiseman, Russian Maxim Suraev and German Alexander Gerst.On board the ISS there are already three astronauts expecting the flight. Alexander Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev and Steve Swanson. This will be the 40th crew expedition to the ISS.

This is how astronaut prepare themselves for ISS missions: