Astronauts say there must be life in space

The human race will find life elsewhere in the universe as it pushes ahead with space exploration, astronauts back from the latest US space mission said Monday.

"If we push back boundaries far enough, I'm sure eventually we'll find something out there," said Mike Foreman, a mission specialist on the Endeavour, which returned to Earth in March.

"Maybe not as evolved as we are, but it's hard to believe that there is not life somewhere else in this great universe," he was quoted by AFP as telling a news conference in Tokyo.

The crew members on the 16-day Endeavour mission, which included a Japanese astronaut, said that so far they have not seen anything inexplicable or mysterious in terms of other life forms.

"I personally believe that we are going to find something that we can't explain," said another astronaut, Gregory Johnson.

"There is probably something out there but I've never seen it," he said.