For me, the passion of being an astronaut was ignited at an early age. I have this recollection of looking at a picture of the Apollo program - Neil Armstrong standing on the Moon - then looking at the night sky and realizing that, right where I was looking, people stood and looked back at the Earth. Even as a fairly young child, that was not lost on me, and it inspired me to pursue my dream. I didn't know if I would ever become an astronaut, of course, and the odds are not in your favour, but I just kept it in the back of my mind and tried to keep those options open.

I'd like to reiterate that the opportunities in space are going to be vastly different than they've been before, so, for young Canadians preparing for their futures, it's important to understand that there are going to be many opportunities to work in either new space industries that are being developed or to actually go to space, to be one of the people to join our team of explorers who are going to leave lower-Earth orbit. That, ultimately, is amazing, the opportunities we'll have.

Having serious consequences to your decision-making process is something you have to be very comfortable with. It's something you learn and you practise over time, so I encourage people to find some way to challenge themselves. The other thing I share with people, which I've learned over time, is self-confidence. You have to get very comfortable with saying, "Well, every day, I'm just going to give my best. I have skill sets I've learned, I'm going to employ them, and my best is going to be good enough".

I realize that the 2020s are going to be completely different than this decade has been. There's going to be rapid progress. One of the most important aspects is going to be cheaper access to space. It changes everything. We have the ideas and the technology to do a lot of things, but we're limited financially, so, by reducing the cost of access to space, the whole problem is changed. Ultimately, the pieces that are coming together are going to allow us to send humans to Mars - and bring them back.

For me, the passion of being an astronaut was ignited at an early age. I have this recollection of looking at a picture of the Apollo program - Neil Armstrong standing on the Moon - then looking at the night sky and realizing that, right where I was looking, people stood and looked back at the Earth. Even as a fairly young child, that was not lost on me, and it inspired me to pursue my dream. I didn't know if I would ever become an astronaut, of course, and the odds are not in your favour, but I just kept it in the back of my mind and tried to keep those options open.

When you talk to astronauts, the most profound thing when you finally go into space is the view - looking back at the planet - so I absolutely know for sure that that's going to change my perspective on our planet, and it's going to change my perspective on life, I think.

I think my career will end too early for me to go to Mars, though I might be involved in preparing the next generation to go. I'd love to explore Mars, but, ultimately, it's kind of a crappy planet. The thing is, Mars One people would never go outside without a spacesuit ever again. You're going to live in a tin can. Space stations are noisy; it's like living inside a computer with the fan on all the time. You're never going to smell grass or trees. It's just never going to be anything like Earth. You're never going to swim. You're giving up so much.