Status: 03/23/2022 10:07 p.m
German astronaut Maurer is back on board the ISS. After seven hours in space, he climbed into the space station with his US colleague Chari. Maurer had to contend with a number of difficulties during his assignment.
After seven hours in space, German ESA astronaut Matthias Maurer has returned to the ISS space station from his first mission. US astronauts Kayla Barron, Thomas Marshburn and Mark Vande Hei helped the two get in. While still in his spacesuit, Maurer jubilantly stretched his arms in the air, although there had been complications.
At first, a loose camera on his helmet, which was then provisionally fixed with wire, temporarily delayed the work. After that, he became tangled in his tethers, but was able to free himself with the help of instructions from the control center. Upon returning, it was eventually discovered that there was some water in his helmet.
No danger for bricklayers
How much had collected there was not initially clear. Maurer was “in good health” and “not in danger,” NASA said. The incident should be investigated. Maurer’s colleagues on the ISS first examined and documented the helmet and other parts of the space suit. According to NASA, no water had accumulated in Chari’s helmet.
The incident brings back memories of Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano. When he was stationed on the ISS in 2013, so much water collected in his helmet that he almost drowned.
German astronaut Maurer on field missions at the ISS
Pascal Kliss, SWR, tagesschau24 6 p.m., March 23, 2022
Cooling system has been repaired
Together with Chari, Maurer got out at an altitude of 400 kilometers to attach new hoses to a cooling system on the outer shell of the station, replace a camera and set up power and data connections on the external European research platform “Bartolomeo”. “We admire your tenacity and thank you for your work,” the NASA control center in Houston praised the two astronauts.
The 52-year-old Maurer is the twelfth German in space and the fourth on the ISS. On November 11, he flew with three colleagues from the US space agency NASA in a US spacecraft to the ISS, where he is to remain until the end of April.
Roskosmos leaves the future of the ISS open
The crew of the ISS received reinforcements on Sunday. Three cosmonauts docked with the space station in their Soyuz MS-21 spacecraft. At the end of March, the two cosmonauts who arrived earlier on the ISS should return to Earth with their US colleague in a Russian Soyuz space capsule
Since the US and Europe have imposed sanctions on Russia in the wake of the war of aggression against Ukraine, cooperation has been severely strained. However, both sides emphasize that they want to continue operating the ISS for the time being. However, the Russian space agency Roskosmos recently left the future of the ISS open after the contract expired in 2024.
OHB has to cancel satellite launches
The invasion of Ukraine is already having an impact on other areas of space travel. The aerospace group OHB from Bremen had to cancel the transport of the navigation satellite Galileo into space for this year. This was announced by CEO Marco Fuchs at a balance sheet press conference. “This year there will be no launches with the Soyuz rockets,” said Fuchs.
A total of ten first-generation satellites are still on the ground. These would have to be stored first. Since the Ariane 6 rocket is not quite ready, the group wants to examine alternatives. Possible launches with the American SpaceX or the Indian carrier rocket PSLV are under discussion. “But I don’t think it’s possible to do that in the short term,” said Fuchs.
Astronaut Maurer begins external missions in space
Claudia Sarre, ARD Washington, March 23, 2022 5 p.m