Since 13 February, two key components of the Icarus mission have been orbiting in space. Following the on-board computer, which was carried to the International Space Station (ISS) in October 2017, another Soyuz Progress rocket has now transported the antennas of the joint German-Russian Icarus project to the ISS. Martin Wikelski, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Radolfzell and head of the Icarus Mission, talks about his very first countdown in life and the future of the global animal tracking system.