How long was Alexander Gerst in space?

The path began in 2009, when ESA added this geophysicist and volcanologist with a doctorate to its astronaut corps; years of training followed in Europe, Russia, the United States and Japan. Gerst's first flight launched in May 2014: as a flight engineer on the Blue Dot mission he worked for just over half a year on the International Space Station, handled European experiments in the Columbus module and carried out a spacewalk. In November 2014 he landed on the Kazakh steppe aboard a Soyuz capsule.

The second stay, Horizons, lasted from June to December 2018 and was the most demanding: in the second half, Gerst took command of the station, the first German and the second European in that role. A commander coordinates the operations, safety and collaboration of the international crew.

Bone density and muscle mass decrease, the cardiovascular system reorganises, and increased pressure in the head affects vision. The only remedy is daily training on a treadmill, exercise bike and resistance machine, built into a very strict schedule of science, maintenance and sleep. After landing, the body needs weeks before the sense of balance and circulation work reliably again.

With 362 days, Gerst tops the list of German astronauts, ahead of Thomas Reiter, who also flew two long-duration missions, one to the Russian station Mir and one to the ISS. Compared with the records of Russian cosmonauts, who have spent more than a year straight in orbit, it's still an intermediate figure. Gerst remains part of the European astronaut corps.