Public lecture with ESA astronaut Dr. Alexander Gerst

What does it feel like when an entire planet turns into a small blue marble in the face of infinity? What does our home Europe look like from space? How do you sleep in zero gravity? What does it do to a person when he or she sees wars, environmental destruction and hurricanes from above without being able to do anything about it? How do you live in space for a year? And what will be man's next step out into the universe?

In Alexander Gerst's lecture, the experienced ESA astronaut and commander of the International Space Station shares his observations of Earth from space and describes life on the ISS using many photos and videos. The lecture also offers an outlook on the planned exploration of the moon and beyond. It will show how scientific research and international cooperation in space lead to new insights and provide a new, inspiring view of our blue planet.

• Name: Alexander Gerst
• Born: May 3, 1976, Künzelsau, Germany
• Profession: ESA astronaut, geophysicist
• Education: Geophysics (Karlsruhe), geosciences (New Zealand), volcanology (Hamburg, doctorate 2010)
• ESA career: Since 2009, first space flight in 2014 (Blue Dot Mission), second space flight in 2018 (Horizons Mission), first German ISS commander
• Current position: Head of the "Astronaut Operations" department at the European Astronaut Center, Cologne (since 2023)
• Hobbies: Paragliding, mountain biking, mountain hiking, climbing, diving
• Awards: Grand Cross of Merit, Golden Humboldt Medal, Senckenberg Award, Peace of Westphalia Award.