Matthias Maurer is one of twelve Germans who have traveled in space. Maurer talks about the opportunities that experiments in space offer for the development of new technologies.
He is concerned that Germany could miss out on the rapid development of space travel and leave the growth market in space to other countries. The doctor of materials science was part of the team on the international space station ISS for six months, from November 2021 to May 2022. In weightlessness, tumors mutated more in twelve days than they would otherwise in twelve years, reports Maurer, who himself works with materials. He dreams of the moon mission, despite the significantly higher quality of life on Earth.