The Unknown

Our story begins in Australia: home to one of human history’s oldest groups of astronomers. In Aboriginal culture, making sense of life meant looking up to find answers. Indigenous Australians have turned to space for thousands of years for both factual knowledge and philosophical musings, and this spirit of discovery has only strengthened over the years.

A human drive, without any border or limits to place or time. Our growing desire to explore accelerated our achievements, as we created the tools along our journey to expand our capacities even further.

Have you ever glimpsed the International Space Station flying over you? Watching Sputnik and Apollo fly above him inspired William Gerstenmaier to later design the ISS and build rockets to send humans into space. Motivated to do it for the greater good of humankind, at the possible cost of their own lives.

The legacies of those who shaped the flight path to space live on every day and serve as a reminder to face what is yet to be discovered. On being asked what William was up to for the rest of the day, he responded: “Here in seven minutes, you'll get to see me tear apart a solenoid valve that sits on the side of the Falcon 9 rocket that had some water get into it.”

None of the courageous astronauts questioned their raison d’etre when they found out that we are all merely specks of dust in respect to this endless and vast universe. Quite the opposite: this realisation inspired them to study our relation to space and, more importantly, that we are not limited nor bound to Earth.

Missions that we used to read about in sci-fi stories have now become reality; those dreams of another time became the driving forces that shape our future. A force that drove Rogel Mari Sese to create a national space program for his home country, the Philippines.

It took Thomas Pesquet roughly 23 hours on his recent Alpha mission to arrive on the International Space Station. Where did you end up after your last 23-hour trip? For some there is no limit too high - it is just about the perspective. We have explored our own horizons greatly, what does it take to explore them vertically? For Thomas that journey includes a very eclectic playlist while preparing to leave our planet 20 minutes pre-launch.

As to the moment Thomas knows he’s made it into orbit: “Your engine stops and then everything becomes really, really, really quiet, really quiet. And then stuff starts floating in the capsule. That’s when I know.” And from there he watches over our world - embracing the powerful effect of floating above the atmosphere and the perspectives that come with it.

For most of us, the experience of space seems out of our reach. But if you turn the globe and explore the international fascination of space you will certainly look to China. There you might meet pioneers like Feng Yang, who will share his view with you that space exploration is simply another evolutionary step for humanity.

Convinced by this, he dedicates his life to making these next steps more accessible for everyone. From Earth to the Moon to interstellar travel, space dreaming knows no borders.

Space exploration teaches us to constantly keep moving and never to accept limits, but to invariably work on solutions - and Kun Fu is well aware that nothing paves our path to the future better than the dreams of the now and here. Space has the capacity to change the trajectory of our species, though it's difficult to say what direct changes they might bring in the immediate future.

“But,” as Mr. Fu puts it, “generally speaking, only through constant exploring and studying the unknown world, can we humans change ourselves, can we discover new things, which can bring revolutionary influence to humankind.”

The mindset of the fearless explorer is what fascinates Hannah Ashford the most, especially how uniquely common it is within the space community. The collective dreams of our generation range from the modest to the profound, and space is a key enabler.

She summarises the dedication to overcoming limits: “Following the journey from ‘I wonder’ to ‘I think’ to ‘I know’ will eventually fulfill even the most profound visions and enable us to open up to new worlds.”

Speaking of exploring new worlds: for Ke Wang it is evident that space exploration does not only open up new planetary places, but also a myriad of new cultural, philosophical and artistic worlds.

Russian studies on the electromagnetic field resulted in the invention of the theremin, the electronic instrument preceding the synthesizer. Once upon a time science-fiction, now part of everybody’s (musical) world.

Some ideas sound crazy. Just like Hélène Huby’s dream to foster independent dialogue between competing space nations. But when ideas like these are carried out by individuals with absolute ambition, they will echo in the minds of like-minded people.

People who connect and support others to improve the lives of our species - this is our human journey in space.