In October 2021, William Shatner -- famous for his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek -- went into space. He was the oldest living person to do so at ripe young age of 90, but he couldn't resist the opportunity of a lifetime.
The experience was not what he expected.
In an excerpt from his new book, Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder, Shatner reflects on his trip into space on the Blue Origin space shuttle and says he was surprised by his own reaction.
While he writes that he has always loved the mystery and questions of the universe, all that he saw was "death" when he looked into space -- "unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. It was deep, enveloping, all-encompassing," he writes. In contrast, what Shatner says he saw when he looked at Earth was life.
"Everything I had thought was wrong. Everything I had expected to see was wrong," he writes in his book.
Shatner says he later learned that the feeling he experienced has a name -- the “Overview Effect” and it is common among astronauts.
When people go into space, they gain a profound sense of the beauty and fragility of the planet. They no longer see national borders or what divides us, but the planet as a whole -- an awesome oasis of life. And it creates a big shift in their worldview.
Here is what 6 other astronauts had to say about seeing the Earth from space -- plus a related comment by the always wise and reflective St. John Paul II.
