Skip to main content

Watch this astronaut prepare for his stay at the International Space Station

Astronaut vlog: space food and fitness

Astronaut Matthias Maurer has been training for his first space mission for the last five years.

Recommended Videos

In the fall, the 50-year-old German will finally get his chance to take a rocket ride as he travels to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule.

Training for his six-month stay aboard the space station is now intensifying, with Maurer currently stationed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston as he makes final preparations for the mission.

Offering some fascinating insight into the training process is a newly released video (top) showing Maurer participating in various activities, including trying different space food at the NASA Space Food Systems Laboratory.

“The food lab specialists even help us to fulfill individual wishes such as adding new food from our home country,” Maurer says, adding that despite most space food being served up in pouches and cans, everything he’s tried so far has been “outstanding.”

The European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut also highlights the importance of staying fit in space, with the microgravity conditions causing muscle and bone loss among ISS inhabitants unless they take regular exercise. This involves sessions lasting two hours a day across six days a week, and includes fitness and cardio training, as well as strength-building weightlifting sessions using a special machine for the unique conditions.

Maurer also notes how the training includes learning how to fix the machines if they break down, as calling up a mechanic from space isn’t a done thing.

As you’d expect, some of the pre-mission training is taking place inside a near-replica of the space station (shown in the video), minus the microgravity conditions, of course.

The astronaut will continue his training for the fall mission at partner agencies around the world over the next weeks and months. ESA is promising more videos to show Maurer’s progress ahead of his first space adventure.

For more on how astronauts work, rest, and play in space, be sure to check out this Digital Trends article featuring a collection of videos made by the astronauts themselves during stays on the orbiting outpost 250 miles above Earth. You’ll even find out how astronauts go to the bathroom in space.

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
SpaceX is about to launch 4 humans to orbit. Here’s how to watch
The International Space Station.

The Texas-based astronaut mission company Axiom Space is again partnering with SpaceX to launch four astronauts from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Liftoff of the Ax-4 mission is targeted for early on Wednesday, June 25. Read on for more details.

The crew will head to the International Space Station (ISS), where they’ll spend around two weeks living and working alongside the orbital outpost's current inhabitants.

Read more
Watch this SpaceX rocket launch on 15th anniversary of first Falcon 9 liftoff
A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches on the 15th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket roared skyward on Wednesday on what was also the 15th anniversary of the first-ever Falcon 9 launch.

The anniversary mission launched from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, deploying 27 Starlink internet satellites to low-Earth orbit.

Read more
Astronaut’s video shows aurora burst into life over Earth
An aurora over Earth, as seen from the space station.

In case it's escaped your attention, there’s been a surge of interest in aurora just recently after a powerful geomagnetic storm -- caused by a huge blast from the sun -- reached Earth at the beginning of this month.

Aurora occur when charged particles from the solar wind interact with Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere, leading to the formation of spectacular ribbons of light in the upper atmosphere. The best place to view aurora are from locations within or close to the Arctic Circle, with parts of Norway, Sweden, and Canada particularly famous for offering stunning views.

Read more