Dr. Alexander Gerst, the 11^th German astronaut to reach outer space, will become the first German commander of the International Space Station (ISS) in the summer of 2018.

An astronaut of the European Space Agency, Dr. Gerst will command Expedition 58 set to board the ISS in 2018. Gerst, 40, will remain aboard the ISS for six months. His job will be to maintain crew morale; conduct on-orbit operations and implement missions as dictated by the flight director.

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"It is a big compliment for me. And I am happy for spaceflight in Europe," he said.

News of Dr. Gerst's assuming command of the ISS was made public during German Chancellor Angela Merkel's visit to the German Aerospace Center. She said Gerst had made people realize "on what a beautiful planet we live on and how vulnerable Earth is."

A geophysicist, Dr. Gerst was first sent to the ISS in 2014 and became famous for his social media commentary on life aboard the space station orbiting over 400 kilometers above the Earth. He also did videocast question-and-answer sessions with German school children.

He first worked as Flight Engineer 5 on Expedition 40/41 from May to November 2014. The current expedition aboard the ISS is Expedition 46/47 consisting of six astronauts and cosmonauts.

The first German to reach space was East German cosmonaut Sigmund Jähn who achieved the feat on board a Russian Soyuz capsule in August 1978. West German astronaut Ulf Merbold spent 10 days in space in 1983 as part of NASA's Spacelab mission.

TagsDr. Alexander Gerst, German, International Space Station, ISS, angela merkel, Expedition 58