Matthias Maurer

Matthias Maurer was born on 18 March 1970 in Sankt Wendel, in Germany's Saarland, and reached the astronaut corps through materials science rather than military aviation. He studied materials science and engineering across several countries, at Saarland University in Germany, the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom, an engineering school in Nancy, France, and the Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Barcelona, before completing his doctorate at RWTH Aachen University. He came close to selection in ESA's 2008–09 astronaut search and joined the agency in 2010 as a crew support engineer and Eurocom, working in the Columbus mission control team. In July 2015 he was formally admitted to the European Astronaut Corps, and he later completed basic and pre-assignment training. Along the way he helped develop ESA's LUNA lunar-analog facility in Cologne, deepening his focus on future Moon exploration.

Maurer flew his first, and to date only, mission as part of SpaceX Crew-3, launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center aboard a Crew Dragon on 11 November 2021 alongside NASA astronauts Raja Chari, Thomas Marshburn, and Kayla Barron. He named the mission Cosmic Kiss, describing it as a declaration of love for space. During his roughly 177 days aboard the International Space Station he supported and conducted a large program of experiments, many of them European, ranging from materials and physical science to human physiology. On 23 March 2022 he carried out his first spacewalk, a nearly seven-hour extravehicular activity with Raja Chari to service station hardware. He returned to Earth on 6 May 2022, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico aboard Crew Dragon Endurance.

As an active ESA astronaut, Maurer has remained closely tied to Europe's ambitions beyond low Earth orbit, using his materials-science background and his work on the LUNA facility to help prepare for crewed lunar surface operations. He has been a visible advocate for international cooperation in science and for STEM education, drawing on his fluency in several languages to reach broad audiences. His record stands at a single spaceflight and one spacewalk, and as a currently serving member of the corps he remains eligible for future assignments; consistent with his role, his focus has been on advancing lunar science and helping Europe take part in the return to the Moon, rather than any specific mission yet flown.