The countdown is on: ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst will begin his second mission next month. Alexander will be launched on 6 June with US astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russian cosmonaut Sergei Prokopyev from the Baikonur cosmodrome, Kazakhstan in the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft. The astronaut is now in the last stages of training for his challenging spaceflight.

Why the name ‘Horizons’? Find out in this video: