Chris Hadfield: Space travel opens up a whole universe of possibilities*

Credit: CSA

What does it mean for us as a human race to be able to go into space?
Space exploration is just the natural continuation of the travel and exploration that we've done all over the surface of the earth. I t took us about 70,000 years to start living everywhere on Earth. Initially we just traveled everywhere on foot and then by horse and then by boat and then by car and by train and plane. But really it's taken and it's been a natural exploration. It's taken beyond recorded history for us to slowly explore over the whole surface of the earth. But we've always just taken the best of our technology and then allowed it to let us see something new and travel to some place new. And Antarctica, over the last hundred years going to Antarctica is a great example. 100 years ago it was impossible to go to Antarctica and now people live at the South Pole. And going to space is no different. It's just a continuation of that. And the beauty of all exploration is that it opens up new opportunities for us and it also gives us a perspective back of where we are and teaches us more about where we are right now. And space travel does that probably better than anything. It opens up a whole universe of possibilities and it gives us a perspective and understanding of the world that we couldn't get any other way.
*Excerpt from my interview with Chris Hadfield – First Canadian Astronaut to walk in space. Read more how the life on Earth looks like from the space here, on the beauty of a spacewalk here on the on the difference between fear and danger here and on how fear of failure affects our life here