Ulf Merbold is one of the pioneers of European spaceflight. He was the first European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut to go into space, the first non-American on board a Space Shuttle, and remains to this day the only German to have flown into space three times. His total of 49 days in orbit make him one of the most experienced European astronauts of his generation. He studied physics at the University of Stuttgart and subsequently carried out research at the Max Planck Institute for Metal Research. In 1977, he was selected from more than 2,000 applicants as one of ESA’s first scientist-astronauts. After several years of intensive training, he embarked on his first mission aboard the space shuttle Columbia in 1983, making space history as the first non-American member of a Space Shuttle crew. This was followed by two further missions: in 1992 aboard the space shuttle Discovery and in 1994 to the Russian space station Mir, where he became the first ESA astronaut to undertake a long-duration stay. In addition to his own spaceflights, Dr Ulf Merbold also played a key role in European space exploration on the ground. He was involved in the development of Europe’s contribution to the International Space Station, headed the Astronaut Department at ESA’s European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, and was later responsible for the scientific use of the ISS. Even after retiring from active service, he remained associated with ESA as a consultant. In his talks, Ulf Merbold takes his audience behind the scenes of space travel. He speaks about scientific curiosity, international cooperation and tackling challenges under extraordinary conditions. He combines his experiences from three spaceflights with food for thought on innovation, precision, teamwork and the question of how people can overcome boundaries and open up new perspectives together.