{"id":605942,"date":"2026-04-25T16:56:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/605942\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T16:56:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T16:56:14","slug":"astronaut-explains-the-profound-existential-pain-he-felt-after-returning-from-moon-orbit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/605942\/","title":{"rendered":"Astronaut explains the profound existential pain he felt after returning from moon orbit"},"content":{"rendered":"

After going into space for the first time, astronauts experience a profound shift in perspective known as the overview effect<\/a>. When they look down on Earth, they no longer see borders, politics, or religion. Instead, they see a beautiful blue marble floating in space where everything on its surface is magically connected. After seeing\u00a0the Earth<\/a>\u00a0from afar, many of humankind\u2019s squabbles and battles seem petty and inconsequential. This incredible shift in perspective can be exhilarating, but also isolating.<\/p>\n

The four astronauts who were aboard the recent\u00a0Artemis II<\/a>\u00a0mission, NASA<\/a>\u2018s first trip around the moon\u00a0since Apollo 17 in 1972, shared their experiences of the overview effect upon returning home on April 10. Astronaut<\/a> Reid Wiseman struggled to find words to express his incredible, unique experience.<\/p>\n

Seeing Earth from space was life-changing for astronaut Reid Wiseman<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really a religious person, but there was no other avenue for me to explain anything or experience anything,\u201d Wiseman said<\/a>. \u201cSo I asked for the chaplain on the Navy ship to just come visit us for a minute. When that man walked in, I\u2019d never met him before in my life, but I saw the cross on his collar, and I just broke down in tears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiseman added that it is \u201cvery hard to fully grasp what we just went through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the sun eclipsed behind the moon, I turned to [astronaut Victor Glover] and said \u2018I don\u2019t think humanity has evolved to the point of being able to comprehend what we are looking at right now,\u2019\u201d Wiseman said.<\/p>\n

Astronaut Jeremy Hansen also said that he had trouble \u201ctrying to find words\u201d to describe his time in space accurately. \u201cBut what kept grabbing my attention, when the lighting was right, and we were looking out the window, is that I kept seeing this depth to the galaxy,\u201d he said. \u201cThat was mind\u2013blowing for me. The sense I had of fragility and feeling infinitesimally small.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ReidA thin blue line separates life on Earth from the darkness of space<\/p>\n

Another profound realization astronauts have is that Earth\u2019s atmosphere appears remarkably thin from space. \u201cYou see the thin blue line of the atmosphere, and then when you\u2019re on the dark side of the Earth, you actually see this very thin green line that shows you where the atmosphere is,\u201d Mission Specialist Christina Koch said, according to NASA<\/a>. \u201cWhat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"atmosphere,<\/p>\n

Ultimately, when someone experiences a major shift in perspective, the important thing is how they incorporate it into their lives. \u201cYou come back to sea level, and then you have a choice,\u201d Glover told NASA<\/a>. \u201cAre 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?\u201d<\/p>\n

The post Astronaut explains the profound existential pain he felt after returning from moon orbit<\/a> appeared first on Upworthy<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After going into space for the first time, astronauts experience a profound shift in perspective known as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[105920,121358,79],"class_list":["post-605942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-astronaut","tag-reid-wiseman","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}