I think the curiosity of mankind, that we want something unknown. Like, 500 years ago, humankind wanted to know what the other side of the ocean is, and it was a very risky project, and then we decided that probably we can fly; let's fly higher. And now we're flying space station, and still it's not enough for us: we want to know what's beyond.

After I graduated Star City school, I entered to the Tambov Military School of Pilots because I really wanted to be a pilot, and in Russia, it's one of the steps of how you make a career as a cosmonaut. You have to be a military pilot or an engineer.

I never thought about it, really, that I am going to be the second generation of the space cosmonauts. I just want to do my job as best as is possible, and that's it, honestly.

International Space Station, it's huge, I would say, space building. When you just can see it - and you can see it actually from five kilometers perfectly well when the sun is rising - and you can't imagine, or can't believe, that this miracle was built by people, by humans.