International Space Station ISS

Alexan­der Gerst's mis­sion 'Blue Dot – Shaping the future'

International Space Station ISS

Blue Dot

The name of the ‘Blue Dot’ mission goes back to the world-famous US astronomer Carl Sagan (1934-1996), who described our Earth as a ‘pale blue dot’. The experiments carried out by Alexander Gerst during his mission on the ISS were based on the motto ‘Shaping the Future’.

At 21:57 CEST (Central European Time) on 28 May 2014, German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, en route to the International Space Station (ISS). He was the third German to live and work on board the ISS. During his mission, which lasted 166 days, Alexander Gerst was involved in 100 different experiments from the various ISS partners.

On 10 November 2014, after a three-and-a-half hour journey on board a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, Alexander Gerst landed on the Kazakh steppe at 4:58 CET (9:58 local time).

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'Blue Dot' – the logo for the ISS mission of the next German ESA astronaut, Alexander Gerst
'Blue Dot – Shaping the Future' is the motto of the ISS mission of the next ESA astronaut, Alexander Gerst. During German Aerospace Day on 22 September 2013, DLR and ESA revealed the mission name and its logo.
Image: 1/18, Credit:

ESA.

The crew on board Soyuz TMA 13M
The German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst (left) with his crew colleagues Maxim Surayev (centre) and Reid Wiseman in the Soyuz capsule on the evening of 9 November 2014, shortly before setting off for the return trip to Earth. After 165 days in space, the crew touched down in the steppe of Kazakhstan at 04:58 CET (09:58 local time) on 10 November 2014.
Image: 2/18, Credit:

ESA/NASA.

Training in space
Alexander Gerst trains on a bicycle ergometer in the NASA Destiny laboratory of the International Space Station.
Image: 18/18, Credit:

NASA:2Explore.

Background articles

'Blue Dot' in figures

During his mission, scheduled to last 166 days, Alexander Gerst was involved in about 100 experiments conducted by all ISS partners. Of the approximately 40 ESA experiments (ELIPS programme), 25 were conducted under the auspices of German project scientists or with some involvement of German industry.

The 'Blue Dot – Shaping the future' mission

At 21:57 CEST on 28 May 2014, German ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on board a Soyuz launch vehicle, bound for the International Space Station (ISS). After a flight of just six hours, he reached the Space Station, which orbits Earth at an altitude of 400 kilometres and travels at a speed of 28,800 kilometres per hour.

Mission experiments

With the theme 'Shaping the future', Alexander Gerst used the special conditions of space, such as microgravity, in addition to his operational tasks on board the International Space Station (ISS), to carry out approximately 100 fascinating experiments over 166 days.

Downloads

Brochure: Blue Dot (2014)

9.5 MB | PDF

Alexander Gerst shapes our future on the International Space Station.