"When I felt the liquid filling up in my space helmet I thought 'OK, what do I do to save my life?' I was completely isolated – I couldn't see, hear or speak. 'How do I fix this?' I thought. If the water fills my mouth – how do I create a flow of oxygen? What can I do?"

It was July 2013 and Luca Parmitano was floating outside the International Space Station's Quest airlock on a routine maintenance trip when his helmet began to fill with water. With just seconds of oxygen left to climb back aboard the spacecraft, Parmitano became the first astronaut to almost drown in space.

"At that crisis point, experience takes a back seat and all your training kicks in," says Parmitano. After such a near-death experience, does he ever question his decision to go back into space?

"No. Absolutely never. In fact I feel fate owes me time on that spacecraft," he jokes. Parmitano's three-hour mission was aborted after just one hour and 32 minutes following the crisis. "After that experience I had more desire than ever to go back into space. It's my passion. In this type of career [being an astronaut] it's understood that it comes with some risks."

These risks, however, may be too extreme for your typical worker. "I think of it like this: every day when you're crossing the street, the chances of something bad happening to you (such as a car crash) is high, but options of help are really high too. However, for astronauts the chances of something bad happening to you is low – due to all the expertise that has gone into the mission – but your options if something goes wrong are also very low. The consequences can be dire."

Aside from the danger, the life of an astronaut is perhaps one of the most varied careers. You can never get bored, says Parmitano. "Every day is different as you're trying and testing new equipment. You are also surrounded by the most amazing, intelligent people and you travel often. For example, I recently spent one week in Russia, another in the US and Germany and then I'm going on to Japan."

However, travelling is one aspect of the job that doesn't seem to complement family life. "In a way it's egotistical," admits Parmitano. "We accept the job takes us away from our loved ones, and we still do it because we want to. I have a wife and two small daughters and they make the same sacrifice but they don't have that choice."

The reality of becoming an astronaut is also capricious. Becoming an astronaut is three quarters luck and one quarter merit, says Parmitano. Not only do you have to be in the right place at the right time, but you also have to be the right person for the job.

"The only thing you can influence is being the right person – and even that has a 50% chance factor as you can only be the best at what you can do. So there is an element of luck to the job."

In future, Parmitano hopes there will be a greater need for astronauts, meaning simply "being lucky" won't be so important. "When the world is more globalised, being in the right place at the right time hopefully won't be as important, it'll be more about you."

So, how did he get his lucky break? "I dreamed about becoming an astronaut more than anything else growing up. It's really hard to find out how to become an astronaut; however I knew that the first astronauts were test pilots, so I sought out the role of flying. Later I specialised as a test pilot and a fighter pilot and in 2008 there was a selection for European space engineers – scientists, medics or test pilots could apply. I was part of that pilot group that could apply to become an astronaut."

Despite his good fortune, Parmitano does not recommend taking a particular route with the goal of becoming an astronaunt. Instead he advises young people to "take a course what you want to do and make your dreams as high as possible. If you are good at what you do, the rest will follow. You never know what the future holds".

Every step of his career has been important one way of another, says Parmitano. "It's a privilege to do what I do every day. The biggest gift is the people I work with."

Luca Parmitano's story is featured in Live from Space Series, out now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD.

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