Astronaut maurer at cape canaveral – soon 600. Man in space

A few days before his planned launch to the international space station ISS, german esa astronaut matthias maurer arrived at cape canaveral spaceport.

Maurer and his three nasa colleagues thomas marshburn, raja chari and kayla barron stepped out of a small plane at the spaceport in the u.S. State of florida on tuesday – dressed in blue suits and wearing protective masks.

They were greeted with applause by employees of the U.S. Space agency, the european space agency esa and the private space company spacex. Until sunday, there are still numerous final preparations and control checks to be made at cape canaveral. They had already inspected the "crew dragon" spacecraft, chari said at an online press conference on wednesday. "We could already put our hands on our kite."

Maurer hopes for a good time in space

"I'm very excited to be about to make my first flight into space," maurer said at a brief press conference after arrival. "My crew members are great, and i am looking forward to having a good time in space."The focus was on the scientific experiments that he and his colleagues were going to conduct on the ISS," the 51-year-old saarlander added.

The start of the so-called "crew-3" is for the 31. October at 2.9 p.M. Local time (7.9 p.M. CET) scheduled. Maurer was the twelfth german in space – and the fourth german on the ISS. The four will be transported in the "crew dragon" of elon musk's space company spacex.

On the ISS, maurer is to carry out numerous experiments at a height of around 400 kilometers for about six months and also complete an ejection mission. The last examinations before the launch have all gone very well so far, said nasa manager bob cabana. "We have a good spaceship for you, people."

Number 600 ready for lift-off

With the four astronauts, the number of people who have ever flown into space has risen to more than 600, nasa said. Maurer assigned the authority the number 600. "I was the lucky one who got that round number, but we'll all have spab in space," the german said.

He had actually wanted to give the seat to his colleague barron. It all still feels a little "surreal" to her, barron said. "This will be the first rocket launch i see live – and i'll be sitting in the capsule."

For him, it's "a whole new way to travel," maurer joked. "It's the first time i'm going on a trip, and i don't have to worry about anything, because everything is organized for me, and i can concentrate on what's really important." he is hoping for "a great week" between now and sunday, said maurer.