Follow your star

A Transformative Journey

On December 3, 2018, David Saint-Jacques boarded a Soyuz rocket, ready to be whisked away from the Earth’s atmosphere and propelled into the universe. He flew to the International Space Station (ISS) for a 204-day science mission. He would go on to hold the Canadian record for the longest space flight.

During his time in orbit, Saint-Jacques was able to observe the Earth from every angle through the space station’s cupola and the visor of his spacesuit during a spacewalk lasting just over six hours, one of the most extraordinary experiences a human can have.

Do you come back changed from that kind of trip? When asked, Saint-Jacques unhesitatingly says yes. But he admits that he was still taken by surprise up there, despite the long preparations he underwent.

That’s because the sight of our terrestrial sphere floating in the emptiness of space has a special effect on the human mind. Even if we’re aware of it and have seen it hundreds of times in images, all astronauts agree: witnessing that sight is simultaneously unfathomable, strange, and unsettling.

“To see the Earth exist like that in an absolute void is downright dizzying,” says Saint-Jacques. First, because it’s suspended in total darkness, but also because in space, everything is dead. The Sun is a gigantic ball of fire. The Moon, a huge, in-animate rock. The other planets that orbit around it are desolate deserts. But the Earth breathes. It glows. It’s truly alive. It’s unique and it’s perfect.”

According to Saint-Jacques, observing our planet from space gives us a new per-spective on our existence. In his eyes, the Earth is something like destiny’s gift, and because we inhabit it, we’re responsible for it. “We absolutely must take care of it,” he adds, “because clearly we have nowhere else to go.”

The Scope of Human Ingenuity

On June 24, 2019, Saint-Jacques re-entered the atmosphere at a speed of 30,000 km/h, touching down somewhere in the steppes of Kazakhstan. After more than six months spent in zero gravity, he returned to Earth amazed by our planet’s beauty, but also more aware of its fragility. It seemed clearer than ever to him: the ecological and geopolitical challenges we face are immense and very se-rious.

You might imagine that such an awareness comes with a feeling of despair, but Saint-Jacques told us otherwise. Participating in a space mission gave him a tan-gible sense of the extent of human ingenuity. He believes that if they combine their intelligence and creativity, human beings can overcome every conceivable obstacle. According to him, the key lies in international collaboration, an avenue that has his full confidence.

“We can definitely go beyond our differences, work hand in hand and achieve great things together. Space missions are living proof of it,” he says with convic-tion.

It should be noted that the International Space Station is the result of a collabora-tion among about fifteen nations, including the United States, Russia, Japan, Germany, and Canada. Since its construction in 1998, it has been continuously inhab-ited by astronauts from more than 20 countries.

A Love of Knowledge

Like all accomplished astronauts, Saint-Jacques has an impressive track record. He is an engineer, astrophysicist, family physician, and remote primary care spe-cialist. He has mastered several languages, including Russian, Spanish, and Japa-nese, and is fluent in French and English. The list of his technical skills is long, and the prestigious honors received during his lifetime are spectacular.

In 2009, after a rigorous process involving more than 5,000 candidates, he was named an astronaut by the Canadian Space Agency. That’s when he fulfilled his greatest dream.

As a child, he believed that becoming an astronaut was impossible. Nevertheless, he was inspired by the culture of excellence of those brilliant scientists, whom he admired and took as role models. Himself endowed with great intellectual disci-pline and an extraordinary ability to focus, he read extensively and strove to “un-derstand everything.”

With the vast knowledge he has today, one wonders if he is still so insatiably curi-ous.

“Knowledge,” he says, “is like a sphere that grows exponentially. The more edu-cated you are, the more you understand the world. But the more you deepen your knowledge, the more you realize that, in fact, there are many things you don’t un-derstand. So, the thirst for knowledge is infinite. But it’s a quest that changes over time.”

When he was younger, the workings of things and their mechanical functioning captivated him. He later became involved in the natural sciences and immersed himself in the great theories of the beginnings of the universe. Then the human side of things gradually became the focal point of his reflections. Now 54 years old, the father of three has very different interests.

“As I get older, I find myself thinking a lot more about my role as a father, a spouse, a friend and someone’s son. But I’m also interested in my responsibilities as a citizen and a human being,” he says. “The big question that fascinates me most now is the meaning of life.”

At the Heart of the Adventure: Humanity

To become an astronaut, you need to be a thrill-seeker. Luckily, Saint-Jacques thrives on adrenaline. Before taking part in the Expedition 58 space mission, he prepared for many years, gradually pushing his limits.

When training, astronauts are constantly stepping out of their comfort zone. They work on their physical stamina, practice making decisions under pressure, and learn to handle all kinds of dangerous situations with a lot of unknowns using lim-ited equipment. They do all that with the aim of being ready to take on one of the most complex challenges imaginable: going to space and living there for many months.

But what new adventures do astronauts dream of once they’re back down on Earth?

“It’s true that going into space is an incredible opportunity. But it must be said that it’s extremely tough for all the reasons you can imagine. It’s very intense, and it’s dangerous. It’s a huge team challenge, which only becomes possible thanks to the tremendous work of thousands of creative, dedicated people.”

He told us that extreme expeditions and voyages of exploration are above all hu-man experiences, whether they take place in space or somewhere on Earth. When embarking on such a project, you must trust others, communicate effectively, support each other, adapt to various situations and, above all, self-manage. Be-cause going on an adventure is also an experience of yourself.

“Going into space was an opportunity for me to observe the human condition, but also to get to know myself better and understand a little more about who I am. Surprisingly, traveling 400 kilometers from the terrestrial sphere was a major in-ner journey for me,” he says.

In that sense, you don’t need to go very far to engage in such introspection. All small-group exploratory trips present the same kind of challenges to overcome. That’s why astronauts often train with expeditions in the great outdoors.

Contemplating the Earth from space has also made Saint-Jacques want to come back down to continue discovering its wonderful landscapes. He underscores that our planet offers us an endless array of gems to explore, such as its oceans, de-serts, boreal forests, jungles, and glaciers.

Connecting to Nature... in Space

Nothing speaks to Saint-Jacques more than the song of a flowing river or the glow of a campfire at night. A love of nature and wide-open spaces is part of his DNA. As a child, his father would take him backcountry skiing in the snowy mountains around Sutton. Those explorations in the woods brought him an immense happi-ness that he still remembers.

The outdoors is a passion that he shares today with his wife, Véronique, and that they would like to pass on to their three children, Pierre, Léon, and Sophie. Playing outside is ingrained in their way of life. That’s why when he set off on a space mis-sion — Saint-Jacques expected to suffer from the lack of contact with nature.

It must be said that outer space is an extremely hostile place. It took a lot of imag-ination to allow astronauts to live there for long periods of time. Everything on the International Space Station is completely artificial, including the air and water. You can imagine that when confined to this orbiting laboratory, human beings feel far removed from their natural habitat. However, Saint-Jacques describes ex-periencing a deep connection to the biosphere.

“Seeing the Earth from space gives you the broadest possible perspective on our world. The exhilaration is like the feeling you get when you take in the view from a mountaintop. It’s quite paradoxical, but in space, I felt a very intimate link with nature,” he says.

Follow Your Star

David Saint-Jacques is one of those exceptional people with whom sharing a mo-ment is a privilege to be savored. Wherever he goes, his prodigious intelligence fascinates people, and the list of his achievements commands respect. But of all his outstanding qualities, it’s perhaps his capacious spirit that garners the most admiration.

“You must believe in your wildest dreams,” he says, “and you shouldn’t fret if you don’t achieve them. As the North Star shows the way north, so dreams serve as guiding lights. They orient us and get us moving in the right direction.”

He reminds us that “to dream” is an action verb and that it’s the starting point of all great feats, including the advancement of civilization. After all, admiring the heavens spurred us to build the first rockets, and it’s thanks to lunar missions that we’ll land on Mars one day.

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Thanks to the Canadian Space Agency and NASA photographer Allison Bills for their collaboration.