[Musculoskeletal research : Trauma surgery and space flight]

This article presents my career path, which combines trauma surgery with space medical research. I was asked to describe for young colleagues both my career path and my work as a research university professor, which combines clinical experimental trauma surgery research with human physiological research in the context of space travel. In addition to specializing in orthopedics and trauma surgery, I completed the residency in physiology at the Charité in Berlin and at the German Aerospace Center in Cologne, before completing my postdoctoral thesis on the musculoskeletal system in space flight. Together with international collaboration partners, I have been involved in experiments in international space projects for many years, for example in bed rest studies, in research in Antarctica and on the International Space Station. In this article I also reflect the advantages and disadvantages of my work and what inspires me about it.