I don't know a whole lot about physics (its to complicated), but I do know a thing or to about space in general and based on my comprehension nobody has given you the specific answer to the question. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HYPERSPACE. I just put that in caps so everyone will be able to notice it, my intent is not to insult or simulate yelling.

There is something called Minkowski spacetime which I don't fully understand but it doesn't work the same way I know that much. The concept behind hyperspace is that a spaceship would somehow slip into an alternate dimension where either the usually laws of physics don't apply or the distance between objects is shorter. That is something science fiction authors made up. It doesn't really exist in science.

The concept of folding space time (like warp drive in star trek to an extent) or creating wormholes are probably the only viable means of space travel and neither would be particularly easy (assuming either are possible). One thing is certain though (well near certain) that an object within our own universe could never ever achieve anywhere near light-speed as it would attain infinite mass and tear itself apart in the process. There needs to be some kind of way of negating the effect inertia, gravity and other forces would have on matter (such as a ship and it's inhabitants) in order to achieve such speeds.

Even if we were capable of space travel I think people are getting their hopes up regarding sentient life in the galaxy. They wouldn't be like the Vulcans or the greys or anything like that. They would be truly inhuman creatures who we might never be able to communicate with directly. It's not that we couldn't share ideas, but you wouldn't be able to have a real time conversation with them and an advanced civilization like ours would probably be rare.