ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer is a member of Crew-3, flying to and from the International Space Station alongside @NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron. This video is part of a NASA-produced series introducing the four crew members as they prepare for their launch into space.

Crew-3 will fly on the @SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft “Endurance”, launching atop a Falcon 9 rocket from launchpad 39A at @NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. It will be the first flight for Matthias, who selected the mission name “Cosmic Kiss” for his six months in orbit as a declaration of love for space.

Though three out of four Crew-3 astronauts are first-time space flyers, they bring a wide range of experience in other sectors and have spent years training for their respective space missions. As a materials science engineer, Matthias is particularly looking forward to the European and international science and research he will support in orbit.

Experiments conducted on the International Space Station feed into the future of space exploration and help drive medical, technological and many other advancements on Earth.

Follow Matthias: https://bit.ly/ESACosmicKiss