Alexander Gerst

1976 -

photo credits: Wikimedia Commons

country of citizenship: Germany

native language: German

languages spoken, written or signed: German, Russian, English

educated at: Victoria University of Wellington, University of Hamburg, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

occupation: astronaut, geophysicist, volcanologist

award received: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Bernd Rendel Prize, Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, Order of Merit of North Rhine-Westphalia, Urania Medal, Order of Merit of the State of Baden-Württemberg

student of: Martha K. Savage, Friedemann Wenzel

official website: www.planet3.de/index2.html, alexandergerst.esa.int

Alexander Gerst (born 3 May 1976 in Künzelsau, Baden-Württemberg) is a German European Space Agency astronaut and geophysicist, who was selected in 2009 to take part in space training. He was part of the International Space Station Expedition 40 and 41 from May to November 2014. Gerst returned to space on 6 June 2018, as part of Expedition 56/57. He was the Commander of the International Space Station. He returned to Earth on 20 December 2018. After the end of his second mission and before being surpassed by Luca Parmitano in 2020, he held the record for most time in space of any active ESA astronaut (362 days), succeeding Italian astronaut Paolo Nespoli, and German ESA astronaut Thomas Reiter, who formally held the record for the longest time in space for any active or retired ESA astronaut. Source: Wikipedia (en)