Artemis II’s return sparks a fresh look at how the ‘Overview Effect’ has impacted space travelers: “You see that we are way more alike than we are different”

Humans could only imagine what our planet really looked like from above until we were actually able to send people into outer space. The Apollo program took humans further from Earth than any human before and on the eighth mission, astronaut William Anders took one of the most iconic photos on Christmas Eve, ‘Earthrise’.

That 1968 picture, along with Rachel Carson’s book six years before ‘Silent Spring’, is credited with sparking the modern environmental movement. It gave all of mankind a sense of the fragility of this blue planet we call home floating in the vastness of space.

Nearly twenty years later, science author and philosopher Frank White, coined the term “Overview Effect” to describe the shift in consciousness that viewing Earth from space has on astronauts, not just about the planet but also life itself.

He found that those who have been fortunate enough to take part in missions to the Moon like the crew of Artemis II experience an even stronger emotional response, which he dubbed “Universal Insight.”

“You see that we are way more alike than we are different”

Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch became the first woman to voyage into the vicinity of the Moon. That isn’t the first historical accomplishment of the 47-year-old astronaut in space. During her maiden 2019 trip into space, she set the record for the longest continuous spaceflight by a woman, spending 328 days in orbit.

She described the overview effect as such: “When you’re on the dark side of the Earth, you actually see this very thin green line that shows you where the atmosphere is. What you realize is every single person that you know is sustained and inside of that green line and everything else outside of it is completely inhospitable. You don’t see borders, you don’t see religious lines, you don’t see political boundaries. All you see is Earth and you see that we are way more alike than we are different.”

Her fellow crewmate NASA astronaut Victor Glover says that when you return to sea level you have an important decision to make. “Are you going to try to live your life a little differently? Are you going to really choose to be a member of this community of Earth?”

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