ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer will be launched to the International Space Station in late 2021 for his first mission, Cosmic Kiss. While at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, he answered a few questions from social media, sent with the hashtag #AskMatthias

From spacesuits to space science, Matthias shares his experiences and expectations ahead of his flight to the orbital outpost in a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. A member of Crew-3, he will spend six months in space, supporting research in microgravity and carrying out operations to maintain and upgrade humankind’s greatest feat of engineering.

While living and working in space, Matthias will deal with the same daily fitness, food and hygiene tasks that we face on Earth. But a few things are different in orbit. If you have further questions for Matthias, please continue to ask these on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram using the hashtag #AskMatthias. He will do his best to share his journey off Earth, to space, for our planet.