It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing. I turned back toward the light of home. I could see the curvature of Earth, the beige of the desert, the white of the clouds and the blue of the sky.
Shatner, alongside three other crew members, rocketed from Blue Origin's West Texas launch site to about 66 miles above Earth, which is beyond what is internationally recognized as the imaginary "Kármán line" that pins the edge of space at 62 miles above mean sea level.
"I saw more clearly than I have, with all the studying and reading I've done, the writhing, slow death of Earth and we on it," Shatner said. "It's a little tiny rock with an onion skin air around it. That's how fragile it all is.
What did William Shatner see when he went to space?
“But when I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold … all I saw was death,” Shatner wrote. “I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness.”
The Overview effect has been experienced by many astronauts in the years since the Apollo missions, and the International Space Station's cupola window looking down on Earth stands testament that sometimes the only way to truly appreciate a place is to leave it for a while.
William Shatner Reacts To Seeing Earth From Space: ‘It’s So Fragile’
What do astronauts think when they see Earth?
What is the Overview Effect? When astronauts first see our planet from space, they go through intense emotions. Seeing our home against the blackness of space is a profound experience that leads to a greater appreciation for Earth and its apparent fragility, and a deep connection to humanity as a whole.
Since 1961, a mere 556 people have had this rarefied experience. Fewer, just 24, have watched Earth shrink in the distance, growing smaller and smaller until it was no larger than the face of a wristwatch.
Surely his staff could quickly whip up a spacesuit in his size, and Musk isn't known to be risk-averse; in 2015, he stood upright atop a flying plane in a stunt called a “wing walk.” And yet the summer of space billionaires has come and gone, and Musk has remained firmly on Earth.
As we pass the moon – some quarter million miles (about 380,000 km) away – Earth looks like a bright ball in space. In fact, it's not terribly different from the way the moon looks to us. Significantly, the first images of the Earth from the moon came from the Apollo mission.
The overview effect is a cognitive shift reported by some astronauts while viewing the Earth from space. Researchers have characterized the effect as "a state of awe with self-transcendent qualities, precipitated by a particularly striking visual stimulus".
On August 10, American aerospace company Virgin Galactic launched its first ever Private Astronaut Mission, making history by sending three people on a commercial flight beyond the stars — including 18-year-old Anastatia Mayers, the youngest person ever to travel space.
Yuri Gagarin from the Soviet Union was the first human in space. His vehicle, Vostok 1 circled Earth at a speed of 27,400 kilometers per hour with the flight lasting 108 minutes. Vostok's reentry was controlled by a computer. Unlike the early US human spaceflight programs, Gagarin did not land inside of capsule.
The Kármán line, an altitude of 100 km (62 mi) above sea level, is conventionally used as the start of outer space in space treaties and for aerospace records keeping. Certain portions of the upper stratosphere and the mesosphere are sometimes referred to as "near space".
Iranian-American businesswoman Anousheh Ansari became the first ever female space tourist in September 2006. The publicized price was in the range of US$20–25 million per trip. Some space tourists have signed contracts with third parties to conduct certain research activities while in orbit.
The company had previously cited a ticket price of $55 million each. NASA's latest price list shows per-person, per-day charges of $2,000 for food and up to $1,500 for sleeping bags and other gear. Need to get your stuff to the space station in advance?
Three of the flights had flown above the Kármán line (edge of space), and one was intended to do so. In each of these accidents the entire crew was killed. As of November 2023, a total of 676 people have flown into space and 19 of them have died. This sets the current statistical fatality rate at 2.8 percent.
Before Katy Perry landed at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards on Sunday (Aug. 27), the singer made a quick trip to space and documented her (fictional) cosmic voyage in a video. "I think I need to go to space to find myself," Perry says in the video after swiping upon a photo of Elon Musk on her phone.
Originally Answered: Are there bodies of dead astronauts in space? No, there are not. All of the astronauts that have died so far have perished in accidents either on the ground, during ascent, or during re-entry. In all cases, their remains either never left Earth or fell back down to the ground after the accident.
To date, no astronaut has ever been 'lost' to space during one, but there have been a couple close calls. When outside their spacecraft, astronauts attach themselves to the hull with tethers made of heavy-duty materials like kevlar.
