In The Everyday Space Traveler, author and Emmy-nominated documentary producer, Jason Klassi, successfully takes on the human journey into space and its endeavor to think beyond its own orbit. Beginning with a personal story of a close brush with death as a child, Klassi discusses Earth as not just a launching point, but indeed a heavenly body cycling through the solar system. With the ease of the great Carl Sagan, the author pushes us gently into the concept of space tourism, which appears on the near horizon and will one day be available to everyone. Much like life on this planet, space travel requires cooperation in close quarters, a passion for learning, and an unflinching will to survive. Although hardly reflected in world events, humans have these characteristics in abundance as demonstrated by the pioneers of exploration near and far.

The book is broken into three major acts: Preparing, Departing, and Discovering. Each section includes stunning photos of space travel and insightful quotations from those who have journeyed through space or helped to make it possible. Klassi’s brisk narrative binds the two together. His emphasis is on the experience and making it accessible to the everyday person. Overall, an impressive span of time and concepts are covered here. The finale is a collection of nine insights into space travel that blueprint a successful human life as much as an accomplished journey. This single aspect makes the book worthwhile, but there is so much more to appreciate.

Lord Chesterton once said: “The whole object of travel is not to set foot on foreign land; it is at last to set foot on one's own country as a foreign land.” Our seminal desire to explore has led us to life beyond the planet within the International Space Station—a glorious manmade achievement that is grossly underappreciated by the public—and further toward life on Mars. Many people are unaware that Mars, and its nearby asteroid belt, had always been the goal of the space program, only to be derailed by politics and fickle public interest. Moreover, hardly anyone is aware that space tourism is not a recent manifestation. Nearly a half-decade ago, the space shuttle blueprints included plans for a tourist module within its bay, only to be scrapped after the Challenger disaster. But the question remains: Have we truly understood our desire to become more integrated with the universe?

Successful coffee table books are no small achievements. They are as much a work of art as a point of reference. Klassi’s book is no exception. The Everyday Space Traveler, which includes a foreword form Buzz Aldrin, resonates with sorely needed hope for humanity. Klassi effectively makes the case that we have always been in space, only now we are at the threshold of this awareness. The course of time, circumstance, and knowledge—this book included—have stacked-up and intersected to create a “LifePoint” for humanity, opening a door to a new and better understanding of ourselves and humanity’s purpose among the stars.

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