![\"NASA](\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/iss072e035863medium.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>This unique experience is known as the overview effect \u2013 a term coined in 1987 by space philosopher and author Frank White<\/a> in a book of the same name. The phenomenon creates powerful changes in the way astronauts think about Earth and life and can be particularly strong for those who lived and worked aboard the International Space Station during its 25 years of continuous human presence. The orbiting laboratory\u2019s cupola module, equipped with seven windows looking down on Earth, provides the perfect place for observation and reflection.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n As Artemis II Mission Specialist Christina Koch explained:<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Koch\u2019s Artemis II crewmate, NASA astronaut Victor Glover, said the overview effect\u2019s potency is closely tied to the \u201csea level effect\u201d \u2013 humanity\u2019s shared experience on Earth. \u201cYou come back to sea level, and then you have a choice,\u201d he explained. \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<\/p>\n Many astronauts emphasize the importance of unity after experiencing the overview effect. \u201cYou see that it’s a single planet with a shared atmosphere. It’s our shared place in this universe,\u201d said former NASA astronaut Bob Behnken. \u201cI think that perspective, as we go through things like the pandemic or we see the challenges across our nation or across the world, we recognize that we all face them together.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Seeing the Earth from space can also change their concept of home. Former NASA astronaut Nicole Stott recalls wanting to see her home state of Florida during her first mission to the International Space Station. \u201cFinally, we were flying over Florida. I wanted to go to the window and see it, and then realized somewhere down the line that I wasn\u2019t looking at Florida that same way anymore,\u201d she said. \u201cI still wanted to see Florida, but Florida had just become this special part of home, which is Earth. We\u2019re all earthlings.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n For some astronauts, their perspective shift inspired them to make changes on the ground. \u201cI think if you\u2019re not a conservationist before you go to space, you\u2019re at least partly a conservationist when you come back. Because when you see how thin that atmosphere is, that protective layer that we have here, you think, wow, we really have to take care of this because it does look so fragile from space,\u201d said retired NASA astronaut Mike Foreman.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Others hope to share the overview effect with more people. \u201cThat perspective helps you grow. It has really inspired me to try to get more people this experience and to get a permanent foothold in the stars for our species,\u201d said former NASA astronaut Jack Fischer. \u201cI want to do everything I possibly can to help the human species, humanity as a whole, go further and grow and evolve like I know they\u2019re capable of.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Future crews to the orbiting laboratory can look forward to a similar experience. \u201cIn that instant, when you\u2019re overwhelmed with that vista, when your eyes see nothing but the beauty of the Earth \u2013 every single crew member that I brought in [the cupola] for that exposure, cried,\u201d said retired NASA astronaut T.J. Creamer. \u201cIt is heart stopping. It is soul pounding. It is breathtaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n For more astronaut perspectives from the International Space Station, watch \u201cDown to Earth<\/a>\u201d on NASA+.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\u201cThe overview effect is when you\u2019re looking through the cupola and you see the Earth as it exists with the whole universe in the background. You 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. 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\u2019t see borders, you don\u2019t see religious lines, you don\u2019t see political boundaries. All you see is Earth and you see that we are way more alike than we are different.\u201d\n<\/ul>\n<\/p>\n
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