Seeing Earth from Space.

[Lobsang]

This thread is triggered by watching Star Trek: Insurrection (not one of the better ST movies) wherein Pickard reveals that his ‘moment he could live in’ is seeing Earth from Space for the first time. I’d imagine that if seeing Earth from space for a 24th century human is a memorable experience then for a 20th or 21st century human it must be even more memorable. So I wonder… what do our astronauts say about their first view of the blue planet from the final frontier? Do they talk about it with a glazed look in their eye?

[Can_Handle_the_Truth]

Neil Armstrong

It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn’t feel like a giant. I felt very, very small.

[Can_Handle_the_Truth]

Roger B. Chaffee

Problems look mighty small from 150 miles up.

The world itself looks cleaner and so much more beautiful. Maybe we can make it that way - the way God intended it to be - by giving everyone, eventually, that new perspective from out in space.

Michael Collins

I think a future flight should include a poet, a priest and a philosopher; we might get a much better idea of what we saw.

Yuri Gagarin

On the 12th of April, 1961, the Soviet spaceship-sputnik was put in orbit around the Earth with me on board… there was a good view of the Earth, which had a very distinct and pretty blue halo. It had a smooth transition from pale blue, blue, dark blue, violet and absolutely black. It was a magnificent picture.

James Irwin

I felt the power of God as I’d never felt it before.

The Earth reminded us of a Christmas tree ornament hanging in the blackness of space. As we got farther and farther away it diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful marble you can imagine.

Valentina Tereshkova

Once you’ve been in space, you appreciate how small and fragile the Earth is.

[Can_Handle_the_Truth]

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