The official account for images of and by German European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Matthias Maurer. With a background in materials science and technology, Matthias formally joined the European astronaut corps in July 2015 and successfully graduated from both basic astronaut training and pre-assignment training in 2018. He will be launched for his first mission on the International Space Station 'Cosmic Kiss' no earlier than 31 October 2021.

For more information about Matthias see: esa.int/matthiasmaurer or the Cosmic Kiss mission website esa.int/cosmickiss