London Business School hosts out-of-this-world event

Tim Kopra, NASA astronaut and London Business School Executive MBA-Global alumnus, addressed students, staff, faculty and fellow alumni from space late yesterday evening, in an out-of-this-world event hosted by London Business School. 

Tim Kopra, who is currently on his second mission to the International Space Station, spent 30 minutes live-streaming to London Business School from the International Space Station, which has been his home since December. 

Floating around in zero-gravity, Tim answered questions from members of the London Business School community, which included Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean, London Business School, current students, faculty, staff and alumni. One student asked Tim whether time in space had impacted his view on finance and economics, and whether we should be doing more to think globally.

Tim Kopra responded: “I’m an EMBA-Global, so we’re very focused on the global piece of business and I think it’s absolutely vital. From my perspective, what you see is a visceral scene of how commerce works around the planet. We see aeroplane contrails that cover the globe. We see ships passing through the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal, and various ports around the world. 

“At night time you see cities that are brilliant, with roads that connect all of these cities. You see fishing boats off the coast of lots of Asian countries in particular at night. So what you see is this very, very vibrant and busy world that has everything to do with commerce.  I think as transportation systems improve, as international relations improve, we’ll see more and more of this interconnectedness and I think it’s absolutely vital in the business world.”

Tim returns from his six-month space mission in June.