Astronaut had major realisation about humanity when looking down at Earth from space
One of the NASA astronauts who was stuck in space for nine months made a chilling realisation about humanity after looking down on Earth.
Suni Williams has announced her retirement from space just months after she was stranded due to mechanical issues with a spacecraft between June 2024 and March 2025.
The Massachusetts native, 60, said she 'had an amazing 27-year career at NASA' thanks to 'the wonderful love and support' she received from her colleagues.
"It’s been an incredible honor to have served in the Astronaut Office and have had the opportunity to fly in space three times," Williams - who logged 608 days in space - said in her statement.
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"I am super excited for NASA and its partner agencies as we take these next steps, and I can’t wait to watch the agency make history."
Back in 2013, she reflected on what's known as the 'overview effect'.
It's essentially the unexpected feeling of overwhelming emotion when looking at Earth from space, a kind of like 'we're all in this together' thing.
"My space expedition has changed my perspective towards people," she said during an event at the National Science Centre.
"Looking down at the Earth, we could not see borders or people with different nationalities.
"It was then that realisation dawned on us that all of us are a group of human beings and citizens of the universe."
Ex NASA astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent 340 consecutive days in space, experienced a similar feeling.
The New Jersey engineer conducted the longest single spaceflight by an American at the time of his mission aboard the International Space Station (ISS) from 27 March, 2015 to 1 March, 2016.
"The planet is incredibly beautiful, breathtakingly beautiful. Having said that, parts of it are polluted, like with constant levels of pollution in certain parts of Asia," he explained in an interview with Business Insider.
"You see how fragile the atmosphere looks. It's very thin. It's almost like a thin contact lens over somebody's eye, and you realised all the pollutants we put into the atmosphere are contained in that very thin film over the surface. It's a little bit scary actually to look at it."
He added: "And then you realise looking at the Earth, that despite its beauty and its tranquility, there's a lot of hardship and conflict that goes on.
"You look at the planet without borders, especially during the day.
"At night you can see countries with lights, but during the daytime it looks like we are all part of one spaceship, Spaceship Earth."
Anish Vij