Per Wimmer: Astronaut & Adventurer
“Honey, I’m home!” You say, walking through the door, in time for dinner.
“How was your day?” Your partner asks, platting up.
“Oh you know, set off fairly early, had a good afternoon in space. Took some pretty nice pictures.”
Although this sounds like a corny screenplay set in the future, this is the present. It’s about to happen. Soon. Particularly soon for one: Per Wimmer.
“The background is I’m an adventurer. I’ve done a lot of adventurous things on Earth, I’ve travelled… well, today I’m up to more than 70 countries. I’ve lived with the Indians in the Amazon, I’ve sky-dived off Mount Everest; a world record I set back in 2008. I’ve skied in the highest place you can ski, been diving with sharks, and travelled Africa thin and thick, I’ve done a lot of these Indiana Jones-type things if you like! And I had a great time doing that. But on Earth, no matter where you get to; there are always people who have been there. There’s always a soft drink dispenser!” Per’s solution? “I’m leaving this planet! To be a 21st-century explorer, you have to go up or down. That’s where you have truly unexplored territories.”
Per is the product, you might say, of the common traps of social media, of the dull aches of comparison. Within this digitised and claustrophobic (un)reality, everyone has done or seen it and been there before. Originally from Denmark, but having spent nearly two decades in London, none of the British standoffishness or chilling reserve seems to have rubbed off on him. Per refuses to be a victim to the raucous cry of an English ‘Sorry’.
Much like a child, he seems completely free from any of the marks left on us by living, and yet he’s lived more than most. In his office, he has a row of deckchairs with the Wimmer Space logo and photographs with astronauts he’s met through the Apollo program. He’s somehow retained a lightness which is seldom seen in the monochrome sea of Londoners. His general state of smiling serenity puts one at ease; this is not a man whose manner suggests he runs two companies in the frenetic financial sector, has written several books (on topics including Wall Street and efficient energy), does motivational speeches, is involved with several charity efforts and of course, founded Wimmer Space. He leans back in his chair and speaks enthusiastically on this last.
Should people go to space? This animates Per, “Oh we are supposed to be there! Absolutely! ‘Cause we can! Humans have to continue exploring! We wouldn’t have made it to where we are now as humankind if we didn’t have the desire to explore. And that desire doesn’t stop just because we’re on Earth and we’ve explored most things. Those who want to go should go. So we’re trying to bring down the access cost. If we can bring it down, then more people can go. But there still is a limiting factor there.”
For now, to your average Joe, commercial space travel is prohibitively expensive with tickets currently retailing at around a quarter of a million dollars. But don’t you worry, Wimmer Space are on it. A Ryanair equivalent for outer space, perhaps? …But what happens if suddenly we’ve all been there and done that and we get bored of it?!
“Then you’ll come and talk to me!” Per laughs. No one can argue with that; he’s got an eye out for daredevil manoeuvres!
So what about all the other things we worry about? Does someone ‘own’ space? Can we trust humans enough to be responsible and not mercenary? Could we muck anything up on a cosmic proportion?! To be honest, when speaking to Per it’s easy to feel calm about it. No, you can’t own space. You can own “space access” because someone has to own the companies in charge – that’s just capitalism. As for risks? “The risk profile is probably comparable to the early days of aviation. And back then aviation was reserved for high net worth individuals too.” When put in that context, space finally slots into our worldview; back in the early days of planes, people feared flying like the plague. Now it’s as mainstream as Mars bars. Is Per concerned for himself? “No. I’m quite relaxed about it. I feel good about it. I’ve had so many years to get comfortable with the thought.”
The idea of venturing beyond our planet still leaves one awestruck, spellbound and glassy-eyed. Much like life itself, space travel is a plunge into the wilderness, a risk, a rush, a thrill and a ride. But if there’s one thing to learn from Per Wimmer it is that even if we don’t have our ticket on the rocket booked, we must still sign up and throw ourselves into life; full throttle.
Upon revisiting this interview, originally conducted in 2016, a lot has changed, and while travelling to the deepest cornucopias of the earth is more viable, even commercial, it only leaves more questions for us to ask. With recent incidents like OceanGate, which grasped the world’s attention into an obsessive frenzy, queries are postulated on the ethics of such travel. Do we have a justifiable reason for this kind of travel? Can we ethically commercialise such dangerous endeavours as if they were rollercoaster rides? What can and do we really own?
All of these topics will be explored in a follow-up article with Per Wimmer in 2024.
Purchase Per Wimmer’s book here.