“Sometimes I have to push myself”

According to the German Aerospace Center, Maurer is not under control “Sometimes I have to push myself and ask: Am I really in space? Do I really have my dream come true, or am I just sleeping and dreaming?” Maurer said during a video question-and-answer session with seven German school classes.

Maurer cannot be defeated

“Between the ups and downs and sometimes there were moments when I thought maybe it shouldn’t be like that, maybe I should give up on that dream,” 51-year-old Sarlander told the children. But he is someone who is not easily defeated, even when there are problems. “Now I’ve been here for two months and rediscovered the dream every day.”

According to the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Maurer opened a ten-meter tapestry banner with painted self-portraits of students holding hands on the International Space Station. “The ‘Hand in Hand Around the World’ campaign shows very well that we can achieve a lot if we work together in peace,” Maurer emphasized. According to the DLR, the tape should return to Earth in a few weeks using a space transmitter. The respective schools then received their departments with official confirmation that the image was in space.

The ESA astronaut set out on November 11 with three colleagues from the US space agency NASA to the International Space Station. Maurer is the twelfth German in space and the fourth on the International Space Station. At an altitude of 400 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, it will conduct experiments for about six months and complete an external mission.