Daniel Tani never dreamed of becoming an astronaut as a child. Growing up in the shadow of the Apollo Moon landings, he was more interested in taking apart clock radios and rebuilding toothbrushes. Yet his path—an engineering degree, a career in the space sector, and a persistent application to NASA—eventually led him to the International Space Station (ISS).
In a recent interview with Euronews Tech Talks, Tani recalled the moment he was accepted into NASA's astronaut corps in April 1996. “It's a very traditional phone call in which they don't ever say the word astronaut. All they say is: ‘You want to come down and work for us?’” he said. “And so I go: ‘Absolutely, yes, sir, yes ma’am’ and then you hang up, and you go: ‘I wonder what I just accepted’.”
Tani spent more than 130 days in orbit, most of them aboard the ISS, and conducted six extra-vehicular activities—spacewalks. While the experience was physically gruelling, it left him with indelible memories of Earth from a unique vantage point.
The Reality of a Spacewalk
“The suit you’re in is bulky, heavy and very uncomfortable,” Tani explained. Astronauts must spend hours inside the suit before a spacewalk, and even a six-hour excursion can mean 10 to 12 hours of confinement. “That’s painful,” he added.
Yet the discomfort fades when the hatch opens. “The privilege of opening the hatch and floating out and holding on to the space station, you're going 17,500 miles an hour, you look around, and it’s the darkness of space, the beautiful vehicle of the space station,” Tani said. “And then 250 miles below your feet there’s Baja California, and then I recognise Italy.”
For Tani, the pressure not to make mistakes during his first spacewalk was immense. Every movement had to be deliberate, every tool secured. The stakes were life and death.
The ISS and European Cooperation
The ISS, a joint project of the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and Europe, is nearing the end of its operational life. It is expected to be decommissioned and deorbited around 2030–2031, with commercial stations set to replace it. Tani called the ISS “an incredible example of how international cooperation on a project for good can survive all the political bumps and bruises that happen.”
Europe's role in the ISS has been significant, with the European Space Agency (ESA) contributing the Columbus laboratory module and regular astronaut missions. As the station winds down, European policymakers are weighing their options for future orbital platforms, including partnerships with commercial operators or new multilateral projects.
Tani expressed sadness about the ISS's end, not just for the station itself but for the regular high-level meetings it fostered among partner nations. “Now the leaders of these countries aren't gonna be meeting as regularly about a particular thing,” he noted.
The transition comes at a time of rapid change in space. Private actors like SpaceX are lowering launch costs, while countries from India to the United Arab Emirates are gaining independent access to orbit. Competition over rare materials and orbital slots is intensifying. “Some competition is good, lowers prices and makes things faster. But it also brings up hard feelings and divisions,” Tani said. “So I think we'll have to figure out how to balance those.”
For Europe, the challenge is to maintain its influence in a domain where geopolitical rivalries are resurfacing. The ISS's legacy of peaceful cooperation may prove harder to replicate in an era of commercial space stations and renewed great-power competition.
As Tani put it, the view from orbit—seeing Italy from 250 miles up—reminds you that borders are human constructs. Whether that perspective can guide future space policy remains an open question.
