How to experience the overview effect

Go to the following link for links to the photos:

http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/06/30/19218750-month-in-space-how-to-experience-the-overview-effect?lite

by Alan Boyle, photoblog.nbcnews.com
June 30, 2013

Astronauts have known about the overview effect for decades — and now they're giving the rest of us a taste as well.

The overview effect is the spiritual feeling that comes over spacefliers when they see the whole Earth from above. That sight delivers the realization that there are no true borders on the planet, that the whole world is one beautiful, precious blue marble in a black, overwhelming cosmos.

Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders encapsulated the message when he said, "We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth." Apollo 14's Edgar Mitchell put it another way: "We went to the moon as technicians; we returned as humanitarians."

Today, those views from space are just as precious, and although seeing the pictures are not the same as experiencing the reality, the Internet is making it easier to share all those mind-changing visuals with our borderless planet. The International Space Station provides a true window on the world, and every crew rotation has its featured space photographers. Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who closed out his stint on the station in May, was a standout — as this slideshow attests. But the current crew has some great photographers as well. We've featured a couple of shots in our latest Month in Space slideshow, but there's much more online. Here's where the current crew of space shooters are sharing the overview effect on a daily basis.

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