When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission.German astronauts Matthias Maurer and Alexander Gerst are the hottest candidates for the first European seat on a moon-bound Artemis mission. | Credit: INA FASSBENDER/Getty ImagesBREMEN, Germany — A German astronaut will be the first European to fly to the moon with a future NASA-led Artemis mission, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Director General Josef Aschbacher said at the ESA Ministerial Council, a high-level conference deciding the agency’s budget and future direction, on Thursday, Nov. 27 in Bremen, Germany.Germany is ESA’s biggest budget contributor. An Airbus factory in Bremen assembles the European Service Module, which provides propulsion, power and atmosphere regeneration for the Orion space capsule designed to house astronauts during Artemis moon trips. Europe also builds components for the Lunar Gateway, a space station intended to orbit the Moon from 2027. Elements of the Lunar Gateway are being built by consortia led by France and Italy, whose nationals will be on subsequent Artemis flights, Aschbacher said at the conference. It is in exchange for these contributions that ESA secured three seats on the moon-bound trips. “An ESA astronaut traveling beyond [low Earth orbit] for the first time will be a huge inspiration and source of pride for their country and for Europe at large,” Aschbacher said at the conference.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementGermany currently has two experienced astronauts among the ESA astronaut corps — 55-year old Matthias Maurer and 49-year-old Alexander Gerst. Both have spent months at the International Space Station. Germany also has two astronauts in ESA’s reserve team: 36-year-old Amelie Schoenenwald and 40-year-old Nicola Winter. Neither of them, however, has flown to space yet. Gerst and Maurer are therefore the most likely contenders for that coveted Artemis 4 seat.Gerst’s first six-month stint on the ISS t …
