Kids' questions – Part 8: According to you, what is the most intriguing thing about space?

Uploaded on March 31, 2017

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Kids' questions – Part 8: According to you, what is the most intriguing thing about space?

Some of the candidates participating in Canada's 2017 astronaut selection process answer a question from Anissa, 15 years old, from Phoenix, United States: According to you, what is the most intriguing thing about space? (Credit: Canadian Space Agency)

According to you, what is the most intriguing thing about space?

Answer 1: On Earth, we take for granted the fact that gravity always points us down, that moving is as simple as just walking across the floor. In space, all of those things become much more difficult. Moving means using your arms and reorienting yourself in a way that you just really wouldn’t normally have to do on Earth. So all the challenges that are involved in just accomplishing the simplest tasks in space are what I find to be one of the most intriguing aspects of space exploration.  

Answer 2: The scale of outer space. Earth is so tiny. Our solar system is so tiny compared to the outer space as it exists, as we know it to, that it’s really interesting to think about that. If we could travel as fast as we could humanly imagine doing so right now with our technology, it would still take us tens of thousands of years just to get to the closest star to Earth. There are billions of those in billions of galaxies. It’s really interesting. It’s intriguing for the mind to try to think about that.   

Answer 3: For me, it’s the sheer size of space and the amount of unknown that exists. We’re learning every day, and we’ll continue to learn every day as long as people like you are interested in science. 

Answer 4: As a scientist that really just represents a vast number of unanswered questions. How did all this get here? How is it all moving? What else is out there? Thank you so much for your question and please, above all else, just stay curious. 

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