William Shatner has made headlines this week with the announcement that his trip into space wasn’t the celebration or high note he thought it would be – instead, it felt like a “funeral for planet Earth”.
A portion of his latest book Boldly GoPubliziert Exclusively by VarietyThe former Star Trek Star says that although he expected to find connection and catharsis on his trip, he was overwhelmed with sadness.
“Everything that I thought was wrong. “Everything I expected to see was incorrect.” Shatner writes for the VarietyThis is an excerpt.
“The stark contrast between the coldness and warmth of space and Earth below filled me up with overwhelming sadness.
“Everyday, we face the reality of further destruction to the Earth. The extinction of animal and flora species. . . Things that took five billion year to develop suddenly become unrecognizable because of human interference. It made me feel anxious. It was supposed to be a celebration, but it felt more like a funeral.
His words have since gone viral – and they’re a poignant example of the so-called ‘overview effect’ at play: the impact that going to space and seeing Earth from afar as one, whole, fragile system has on a person. Shatner is not the only one to experience it.
In his 2015 book The Orbital Perspective Ron Garan, a former NASA astronaut, explained that he felt sad during the ‘Windshield Wiper’ maneuver that sent Garan in an arc over International Space Station in 2008.
“As my feet touched the top of the arc, it was like time stood still. I felt overwhelmed with emotion as well as awareness.” Garan wrote.
“But as I looked down at the Earth – this stunning, fragile oasis, this island that has been given to us, and that has protected all life from the harshness of space – a sadness came over me, and I was hit in the gut with an undeniable, sobering contradiction.”
His sadness was focused on the injustice of the Earth and the millions who don’t have access to clean water or food safety.
“Despite the beauty and splendor of this scene, there is serious injustice to the paradise we have been granted.” He explained..
Edgar Mitchell, the sixth person ever to walk on the Moon was famously quoted a similar sentiment after his time out of space.
International politics looks so small from out there on the Moon. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a b*tch,” He said.
A 2020 interview with The Irish Times, former astronaut Chris Hadfield also told Róisín Ingle that his 4,000 hours in space had given him unparalleled perspective on the planet and “the eternity of time”.
“The main threat currently isn’t asteroids and solar flares. It’s us,” Hadfield.
“Our population is so successful and we are changing the environment so it doesn’t let the Sun’s energy go back out into space, so we are warming our planet measurably.”
Frank White, an author, first coined the term “overview effect” in 1987. It provides astronauts with perspective and inspires them to care for our planet better.
“Anyone living in a space settlement… will always have an overview. They will be able to see things we do not, such as the fact that the Earth is one system. White speaks in an overview videoPlanetary Collective produced this product.
“We are all part of this system and there is a certain unity, coherence, and that all is good.”
However, the upside to the ‘overview’ effect is that with the feeling of deep sadness comes hope. The realization that we all are one and that the planet is resilient after it has survived solar flares is an example of this. asteroidstrikes and even a huge impact that spawned the Moon.
A survey of 39 astronauts/cosmonauts revealed that astronauts’ perceptions of Earth had been significantly altered by their visits to space in 2018.
““The Earth was seen as a beautiful, fragile and treasured object,” Nick Kanas, psychiatrist who conducted the research. He wrote it in his 2020 paper.
“Changes in perception were significantly associated with a statement suggesting that respondents became involved in environmental causes following their return home.”
This line is from #DontLookUpIt perfectly captures what is unique about Earth and why we should fight to preserve it. The planet must be habitable for at least 3-4 billion years to allow intelligent life to evolve. This planet is miraculously still habitable.https://t.co/8sWqpXcg2n pic.twitter.com/VsarHgCFCr
— David Ho (@_david_ho_) December 26, 2021
Researchers from all over the globe are currently working tirelessly to make this happen. Find a way of recreatingThe ‘overview effect’, for those of you who are unlikely to ever travel to space.
We hope that by giving the world a wider perspective, we might be able to find a way together to save the small home we have in this vast expanse of space.
