Introduction to translation:
From the moment humans first stepped into space, there have been many myths about what they saw there, what they felt, and what they really thought.
In this article, Marina Korn, editor of "The Atlantic", is interested in answering this question, and she decided to conduct a set of important dialogues, whether with those who underwent the experiment or with scientists who decided to examine the impact of this experiment on those who experienced it, to finally reach a feeling Everyone experienced it representing a completely new perception of the world called the "overview effect", so what is the nature of this feeling?
Translation text:
As soon as he set foot on earth again after his first trip to space, the 90-year-old Canadian actor, William Shatner, stood at this difficult moment in time, full of emotions, among the dusty grass in the West Texas desert, where the spacecraft of the company "... Blue Origin, owned by American billionaire Jeff Bezos, in October 2021.
Jeff Bezos received the Canadian actor enthusiastically, but the latter stood absentmindedly not noticing what was happening around him, and found it difficult to control his tears that poured down his cheeks, and soon began describing what he saw in a low tone of voice, directing his speech to Bezos: “What you gave me is the deepest experience.” Imaginable. I had an exceptionally amazing experience, from which I hope I will never recover."
The man who played Captain Kirk (on Star Trek in the 1960s) was so moved by this flight that his remarks after landing lasted longer than those three minutes he spent in space.
Shatner seems to have experienced a phenomenon that many professional astronauts have experienced before, which is the "overview effect" .
Seeing Earth as a suspended sphere flickering in the dark abyss of space, this oasis of life, swimming in silent emptiness and pitch darkness can fill their souls with awe.
Expressing that sentiment, Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut to climb there, wrote in 1962: "No one who has taken the trouble to prepare for such a spectacle will not be completely amazed at the end."
A small swimming ball
From a distance, the earth seemed to the astronauts, with its thin cover, fragile and weak, and in need of someone to be kind to it.
(Shutterstock)
The spectacle of clouds, continents, and seas below created for the astronauts completely different and new perceptual points of gravity with regard to their view of the planet, and the nature of the bond that binds it to the human race.
In one of his speeches in 1974, Russell Rusty Schweickart, the American astronaut who spent 10 days orbiting the Earth on the Apollo 9 mission, described this feeling: “The farther you go from the Earth, the more fragile and precious little spot will appear to you, swimming in this The universe is vast and diminishes little by little until you can block it with one of your fingers.”
Michael Collins, the American astronaut who participated in the "Apollo-11" mission to land on the moon, believes that if world leaders can go through this profound experience and experience the "overview effect", this will lead to resolving all intractable political differences, and this is what he confirmed In his published memoirs, Carrying the Fire, he said: “In moments like this, borders somehow fade away, we are far removed from the hustle and bustle of the earth, and all conflicts suddenly become silent, and finally fall into silence.”
Joining these astronauts is Gene Cernan, the American astronaut and one of the people who walked on the moon.
Cernan had a burning desire for the rest of humanity to go through the experience he lived in space and witness on Earth from afar, writing in 1985: “If everyone could understand the beauty and significance of this experience, it would not mean that life would suddenly change to an ideal or a utopia But what will come out of this experiment may at least make a difference."
More than three decades later, spaceflight remains a distant dream.
But today, in contrast to the Cernan era, when only professional astronauts were allowed to take such trips, those who can afford it have the opportunity to book a seat on a spacecraft and travel to space on a tourist trip.
In the summer of 2021, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spaceflight company launched a spacecraft carrying 31 people on a journey to the edge of space, while Elon Musk's SpaceX sent seven tourists to space, three of whom spent More than two weeks on the International Space Station.
The next flight, which will be launched by SpaceX, will allow tourists to leave their space capsule and enjoy a small picnic in space.
With commercial spaceflight becoming less expensive and more common, we can now test whether Cernan's vision has an impact, and whether the experience will make people's lives more enriching and meaningful if enough of them experience it.
And who knows, on the other side, a diverse group of travelers may appear, giving them the experience of different impulses of feelings, to end up with different phrases than those that the astronauts made before.
And here comes the most important question: "How will their home appear to the new generation of travelers as they look at it from space?"
History of the Overview Effect
The term "overview effect" was first coined by Frank White in the early 1980s after taking a cross-country plane ride rather than into space as some might imagine.
Flying from a suitable height gave him a wonderful view that raised questions in himself.
White was affiliated with the Institute for Space Studies, a nonprofit founded by Princeton University physicist Gerard K. O'Neill, who had long believed that people would one day live inside space stations that mimic the natural conditions of Earth (Bezos as a student attended O'Neill's lectures, afterward He founded Blue Origin to turn theory into reality.
When White flew west from the East Coast over the plains, mountains, and deserts, the idea flashed in his mind that that sweet spectacle would always be present before the eyes of those who would inhabit space, and he later wrote: “They will be able to see everything below and it is very harmonious and consistent, And they will realize that the being so far-fetched that the 'world' is to people on Earth is just a little planet wandering in space."
To search for evidence to confirm his theory, White began interviewing astronauts.
By the early 1980s, dozens of them launched into space, and later described the experience they had in press interviews and their memoirs, but no one decided to ask them questions that might reveal what was hidden from themselves, and test the true impact of the experience on them.
White realized that this experience did not necessarily result in a change in the hearts of all those who went through it, but he nevertheless noted some common traits among astronauts after returning to Earth, and summarized them in the term "The Overview Effect", which he coined For the first time in 1987.
During his research, White noticed that the astronauts' sense of national belonging had completely faded and was replaced by a sense of belonging to all of humanity, and a new bond was formed between them and their home planet, which is the only known source of life in a world truncated by any signs of life.
The earth seemed to them from afar, with its thin cover, fragile and weak, and in need of someone to be kind to it.
This version of the "overview effect" has been etched in the public imagination, and has been reinforced by books and documentaries over the years.
But the "overview effect" is more like a kind gesture that the universe would bestow on anyone brave enough to venture beyond Earth.
On the other hand, Jordan Beam, a historian at the University of Chicago whose research revolves around the history of space exploration, writes: “The periscope effect can be seen as a cultural phenomenon as much as an astronomical phenomenon. It is a human narrative shaped by a variety of terrestrial conditions.”
The "overview effect" took shape with the emergence of a group of NASA astronauts, with engineering degrees and military experience, who work very well together.
What these men reached at that time was the result of their effort and time in training, to be qualified to enter space flights, which at that time was a new frontier involving risks that required mental stability as much as it required physical stability.
The need to show only the ideal aspects of the experience played a major role in shaping the language adopted by astronauts to describe the experiences they had, and this is indicated by the psychiatrist Patricia Sante, who has worked for a long time at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and she wrote in 1994: " Expressing feelings like sadness or fear was seen as a weakness.”
Even if the sight of Earth adrift in darkness makes astronauts feel fear and sadness, they probably won't admit it for fear of losing their chance to join the next mission.
From a religious point of view, this experience was able to influence the language of many astronauts, so they relied on religious phrases to describe them, such as the American astronaut Gene Cernan, who once stated, saying: “In moments like this, you will discover that what is at the forefront of the scene below are the limits of nature that God created it."
However, Cernan's remarks reflect his religious background, as well as the space race (between the Soviet Union and the United States) that was part of the Cold War.
In this context, Diana Whipple, a cultural anthropologist at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, in the United States, believes that while such an experience strengthened the cosmonauts' sense that God is on their side, it did not affect the first Soviet cosmonauts who were not named. The view of the beauty of the Earth from space into a greater divine power.
The specter of nuclear war also loomed over early space missions.
At a time when two superpowers were engaged in brinkmanship, on the other hand, it was quite astounding in terms of a borderless world in outer space.
The view of the Earth from afar seemed to some to be a source of inspiration capable of giving hope to humanity, and the American astronaut Russell Schweickart often wished to take every individual responsible for these wars and show him the planet from afar and say to him: “Look at this scene well, what The value of these wars that paint the world with unwarranted violence?
However, others did not see any signs of peace, but at this moment they saw signs of destruction spreading everywhere.
And about that, the anthropologist Diana Whipple, who conducted anonymous interviews with astronauts for her research, tells that one of them told her that just one look from the window of the spacecraft on planet Earth was enough to make him completely certain that the annihilation of humanity will be at the hands of humans themselves within a period ranging from Between 500-1000 years from now, but he did not say so publicly.
A comprehensive view of the universe
SpaceX capsule.
(Reuters)
The SpaceX capsule that carries astronauts to the International Space Station is sleek and ultra-modern.
Prior to its first tourism mission, the company added a large bubble-shaped glass window that gives tourists an unobstructed view of the universe, including the home planet they left behind.
This capsule plays a role in transforming the "overview effect" into a way for tourists to meditate and rest.
Entrepreneur Sharn Hagel described her journey back from space with Blue Origin saying, “It was a very moving, emotional, and transformative experience, because in an experience like this you look up to the curvature of the Earth, the formation of clouds, and you realize how small our planet is.” ".
Others adopted a slightly different intellectual path after going through this experience, including Sian Proctor, the geologist and artist, who spent several days on a space trip orbiting the Earth in 2021. It was not the feeling of belonging to the planet and the strength of the bond that binds us to it that crept into Sian’s conscience At the time, it was the intense brightness of the Earth that really captivated her, so she wrote: "There is nothing like being there, bathed in the light of the Earth while floating in space immersed in complete darkness."
Proctor is the fourth black American woman to go to space, and during her trip she painted the earth to describe the wonders and charms of our planet.
Hayley Arsenault, MD, traveled with Proctor, but her profession influenced her view of the landscape. Her first thought was the challenge of distributing care across human-drawn boundaries. But it also made me think about the disparities in healthcare provision from country to country, how could someone born on one side of the globe receive a diagnosis so different from someone born on the other side?! Some of them in one scene, a feeling of injustice invaded me more than ever before, and I wondered: How could this ugliness come out from the depths of all that beauty?
The scene of the earth raises the reservoirs of sorrows
Space travel is always able to excite everyone, whether they are professional astronauts or just tourists.
(Shutterstock)
On the other hand, the experience did not evoke in the hearts of some tourists the same feeling described by the old noble tales about space, and the closest example of this is Wally Funk, the veteran American pilot who accompanied Jeff Bezos on a tourist trip to space in the summer of 2021. However, the experience did not She achieved what she aspired to, and this was what appeared in her statement after her return from there: "I thought I would see the world, but we were not high enough to reach this desired goal."
While what attracted the most attention of Jared Isaacman, the billionaire who booked himself and three others a trip to space via the “SpaceX” company, was the scene of the moon emerging from the depths of the darkness, and he expressed his journey, saying: “Our planet looked as I always thought, a big blue ball glowing and floating in space.
It seems from Isaacman's statement that what was a new and surprising sight for Alan Shepard (the first American astronaut to go there), is now a very familiar and expected sight.
And who knows, taking a picture of the glowing blue ball and posting it on Instagram might become a regular thing with the growth of space tourism.
However, this scene aroused sorrows in the heart of the Canadian actor, "William Shatner". Despite his use of familiar phrases in describing this journey as soon as he set foot on the ground, his speech later came darker than what any astronaut ever said, so he wrote in his memoirs. Recently published: "The view of the Earth from afar ignited a sea of overwhelming sadness within me."
Shatner tells about the coup that happened in himself and about this profound transformation in his vision of things, saying: "It took me two hours of being alone to realize that the feeling that settled in my depths was a deep sadness, sadness for our planet and its destiny."
Contrary to what he expected, this wonderful scene did not fill him with happiness, but it reminded him of the dangers and threats that our planet faces, the first of which is climate change.
Shatner says that feeling of sadness still haunts him to the point where he tears his eyes just talking about it.
However, there are days when he can look at things with complacency and optimism, but at the time his speech was overcome by sorrow and he made sad phrases, he had just read an article about the size of the plastic particles that litter the environment.
As far as the phenomenon of "overview effect" can deeply root itself in the souls of those who have experienced it, it eventually fades as soon as they return to Earth again, and life responsibilities regain their control over them.
In the same context, said Doug Hurley, a retired astronaut from NASA: "We can not surrender long to the slumber of this experience, so we quickly submit to the flow of life that requires us to work, earn money, and take care of our families."
When asked by his wife, Karen Newberg, who is also an astronaut, if the couple had previously talked deeply about this experience and the change it resulted in in their souls, her answer was that they might have had a conversation like this, but she does not remember the exact details.
For her part, Katya Echazarita, the first Mexican-American to travel to space on a Blue Origin spacecraft in 2022, says that she felt responsible for the importance of sharing her experience with the phenomenon of the "overview effect", although this effect quickly faded once she returned to life. "The hardest part after my return was answering the same question thousands of times while maintaining the same enthusiastic tone each time," she commented.
Chris Cassidy, a retired NASA astronaut who has flown many times on the space shuttles, tells of the flames he witnessed rising from the Amazon rainforest.
This scene was able to kindle within Cassidy the sense of the threat of climate change, the urgency to confront this change, and also motivate him to become a citizen who deals with everything related to the safety of the planet in a better way, but the experience did not fundamentally change him on a personal level, as he said: "
Katya Echazarita, the first Mexican-American to travel to space on a spacecraft (Reuters)
The American astronaut Michael Collins once said: "The most suitable crew for the Apollo mission would be a philosopher, poet and clergyman, but unfortunately they would kill themselves trying to pilot the spacecraft."
The situation has changed today, and such a trio has the opportunity to easily go on a journey into space, but on the condition that someone is willing to pay the cost of this trip, and perhaps at that time each of them will come back with different ideas than he used to adopt.
Space travel is always able to excite everyone, whether they are professional astronauts or just tourists.
And because humans were created to live on the surface of the earth, not to hang from above it, whoever goes to space is destined to witness things that he was not supposed to see, and perhaps the most important thing about this experience is that it does not lend itself to description easily.
In 1962, American astronaut Walter Schirra sent his colleague John Glenn - who had set off on a trip around the planet earlier that year - a message via radio telling him: “Isn't this all indescribable, John?! ".
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This article is translated from The Atlantic and does not necessarily reflect Meydan's website.
Translated by: Somaya Zaher.