OUT OF THIS WORLD

We met at the Superyacht Captains’ Forum in Monaco, where I sat down with Scott to hear his perspective on the future of exploration both at sea and in space – and to discover the qualities uniting people who can flourish in such high-stress environments, whether they work in superyachts, submarines or space stations.

The highest point

Now 61 and retired from NASA, Scott’s achievements speak for themselves. Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, of Polish heritage, Scott is a veteran of five Space Shuttle flights and seven spacewalks, with numerous career highlights including “taking care of Senator John Glenn when he returned to space at the age of 77”, he explains.

TEXT BY GEORGIA TINDALE

Those of us lucky enough to work in the industry are privileged to be able to meet some of the world’s most inspiring, influential and high-profile individuals – entrepreneurs, philanthropists, explorers and scientists. For me, even in such illustrious company, Scott E. Parazynski, American physician and former NASA astronaut, stands out as one the most interesting and thoughtful people I have ever spoken to.

In common with 15 to 20 per cent of US astronauts, Scott is also medically trained – graduating with honours from Stanford Medical School in 1989. He reached the summit of Mount Everest while serving as the team physician for Discovery Channel in 2009, following an earlier attempt in 2008 which was aborted due to a back injury. As the first person to have both flown in space and scaled the highest point on Earth he was inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in May 2016.

Below the surface

Scott’s interest in space exploration was kindled at the tender age of five. He says: “I am basically a product of the Apollo programme. My dad worked on the lunar programme when I was very young and I remember seeing the launch of Apollo 9 when I was a little kid – and that was what prompted me to want to become an astronaut.”

Running parallel to this space obsession, however, was an interest in another vastly under-explored territory: the ocean. As Scott explains: “I am fascinated by our oceans. I grew up in deep admiration of Captain

Cousteau – I saw all of his presentations as a kid and learned to scuba dive when I was 11 and we were living in West Africa. I learned the hard way – some older kids strapped a pair of twin 80s on my back and said, ‘Go down and come back up when you run out of air!’ Luckily, I managed to make it a round trip.”

He continues: “After that first trip, I was completely hooked and it changed my life. Not only seeing our oceans, up close and personal like that but having the three-dimensional mobility and the freedom to move like an astronaut in the water column: it was a dreamlike experience for me. When I was diving in California out in the kelp forests and the water used to be completely turbid – you could float there and just let the tide take you there. Once in a while, a seal might come up and play with you. The whole experience almost felt like walking in space.”

High-stakes survival

There are certain leadership characteristics which overlap between those required to spend prolonged periods of time out at sea and in space in leadership roles. “One commonality that astronauts have with seafarers, captains and mariners is the need for resilience – it’s a seven-day-per-week job which never stops. You’ve got duties and responsibilities, which can be very high stakes at times, and you can’t let the worries of things back home get to you.”

Rather than taking a ‘stiff upper lip’ approach to difficulty and not admitting to any perceived ‘weakness’, Scott says this resilience is bolstered by creating a supportive atmosphere on board. “You might notice if someone was having an off-day, backfill for them and try to be supportive because even a two-week mission on a shuttle is very intense – you’ll often find yourself working 16-plus-hour days. You become attuned to identifying when your colleagues need support and they will reciprocate for you.”

Indeed, speaking to Scott offers a lesson in the importance of clear communication and admitting to any mistakes – particularly for those in command, whether of a Shuttle or a superyacht.

“It doesn’t take much for a small problem to amplify into a huge problem. In fact, if you look at accident reports and failure analyses, typically there are multiple steps along the evolution of a catastrophe which could have been avoided.

It’s not typically one throw of a wrong switch that leads to disaster, it’s often a series of incidents of poor communication which could have been interrupted.”

‘Exploring strange new worlds’

As there are numerous notable ultra-wealthy individuals who are aiming to take space travel to the next level – Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson to name just three – there is a similar impulse which can be found when it comes to undersea exploration.

“We live in extraordinary times where the motivating force to innovate and open up these horizons is coming from the ultra-wealthy. There is Victor Vescovo and his ocean research company Caladan Oceanic, who has already made numerous dives down to Challenger Deep – the deepest point on planet Earth – and there is Stockton Rush and his company, OceanGate, who are taking citizen explorers down to the Titanic and opening it up to large numbers of people. I went myself during the summer before last, and it was a truly extraordinary experience.”

An oasis of blue

As Spiderman’s Uncle Ben highlights, however, “with great power comes great responsibility”. The message which Scott would like to impress upon those looking to break new ground in both space and oceanic exploration is all about taking care of what we already have.

“From space, you can see jet contrails, you can see deforestation and smog – it’s really quite dramatic. The scars impressed upon our planet are visible from this vantage point. Looking down from space, our planet looks so vulnerable, and our eco-systems so fragile. Balanced in the enormity of the universe it is just this small oasis: so brilliant blue and captivating.

“And it’s a long way to anywhere else.”

IF YOU BUILD IT, THEY WILL COME