NASA astronaut: Filipinos can go to space, but with Russians

MANILA, Philippines — Veteran National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) astronaut Barry Wilmore believes that with the right desire, Filipinos can go to space.

He, however, admitted that it takes a government agreement for a Filipino to go to space.

“We go to couple of universities here and there’s some very intelligent people here obviously. Not you need a maximum intelligence to go to space but if they have the desire. Right now, the Philippines don’t have an agreement with the US to fly astronauts. The only other way to fly in space is with the Russians. They don’t have an agreement there. For that standpoint, there are things that need to take place with the governments for a Filipino to do that,” Wilmore told Philstar.com during the recent History Con 2017 at World Trade Center in Pasay City.

A veteran of two space flights, Wilmore believes that humans can go to Mars with the proper and robust system. “We can get to Mars but again, the system to sustain human life takes some time. To get there and get back, that’s hard. So we want to make sure our system is robust and the ability to fix system if it fails. We’ve got to take these small steps to learn how to operate in deep space.”

In the same exclusive interview, Wilmore revealed why humans do not go to other planets. “The reason that we don’t go to other planets is because the gravitational pull is based on its mass so here, we humans can handle the acceleration. If the planets get larger, the mass is larger so there’s more gravity. We can’t survive on these planets so we have to go to a planet that is earth-size or smaller. Mars is the next destination and who knows where we might go after that.”              

Wilmore is a test pilot school instructor in the Navy and the Air Force and has a couple of master's degrees. Then, he applied to NASA 16 years ago and has been selected to become an astronaut.

On his first flight in November 2009 to the International Space Station, Wilmore cannot put together the words to describe what it feels to be in space.

But I can tell you it’s way, way cool. Weightlessness, launching and leaving the planet, all the physical sensations when the rocket staging and separates, engines cutting off, another engine cutting on. It’s just thrilling. The whole thing, being at space, looking back at the Earth, it’s just amazing.”

He considers his contribution to humanity as an astronaut is his hard work to explore new things. "We are exploring all the parts of the world, we’re exploring the depth of the ocean, we’re exploring in laboratories, the micro and the macro. We don’t know where the future holds, we don’t know where we might go, the capabilities we might, we have to come and understand and develop to do things further beyond our planet so we’re doing steps and that’s I am a part of, we’re exploring the heavens and I’m grateful for the opportunities.”

Wilmore believes technology and hard work will bring us to different locations in the future. “There’s a lot of capabilities as we get smarter and smarter that will help us explore the heaven and go and do things and benefit mankind in ways we can’t imagine right now.”

In 2013, it has been reported that a Filipino, Chino Roque, has been chosen by the Axe Apollo Space Academy Competition to be among the 23 recruits from all over the world that will fly into space.