Astronaut Chris Hadfield Fires Up Tech Entrepreneurs To Push Outer Limits

VANCOUVER — Astronaut Chris Hadfield says his personal "prime directive" is figuring out how to improve the standard of living for as many people as possible, and make it sustainable.

Canada's most famous space explorer spent more than an hour on Friday persuading a crowd of tech entrepreneurs to strive for innovation that helps the world.

Hadfield implored the business leaders to set politics aside, urging them to build better forms of energy production, improved communications systems and develop a sense of global vision.

He says the most important goal outside of Earth is bringing down the cost of space travel so more people can take advantage of it.

Hadfield decried Russian politics, but commended the beleaguered nation for publicly committing to fund its part of the International Space Station for another four years.

With three space flights over 21 years under his belt, Hadfield predicted humans will eventually weaponize space and says Mars is still a long way off — but believes humans can make the impossible possible.

The Ontario native was the first Canadian commander of the orbiting home for astronauts, which he says is a feat of human co-operation by several countries considered enemies on Earth.