Matthias Maurer spends six months on the International Space Station. After his return, he tells of a number of curiosities. So he becomes the host in space twice: first a Russian, then a US mission docks with tourists.
Astronaut Matthias Maurer received two visits from tourists during his time on the International Space Station. A Japanese billionaire and his assistant had floated up with a Russian Soyuz mission, the Saarlander reported in Düsseldorf at the Estates House meeting of the "Rheinische Post". After that, a US mission was docked with three other billionaires.
Some of the visitors were significantly older than him, said the 52-year-old. That's why, despite his age, he still thinks he has a chance of a possible moon mission. The six-month stay in space not only led to muscle but also to bone loss, revealed Maurer. He has ten percent bone loss in his femur. Like muscles, bones can also be rebuilt through sport.
Maurer appealed to be more careful with the planet. Seen from space, the atmosphere is wafer-thin. All the more incomprehensible is "the aggressive handling of our atmosphere, our environment". Ultimately, the earth is "just a spaceship with eight billion astronauts. That can only work if we stick together and preserve the basis of life."
Maurer returned to Earth in May after six months in weightlessness. His body had forgotten how to deal with gravity in space. Balance also suffered. The first few days back on earth he felt like a drunken sailor.
His dirty socks were not returned to earth, said Maurer. These burned up when they re-entered the Earth's atmosphere. So it's not always a shooting star when you see a glowing tail in the sky, said Maurer. He was the twelfth German in space. On the ISS, he orbited the earth more than 2,800 times at an altitude of around 400 kilometers.
