Note: This post is an excerpt of a book in process. I thought today, 12/27/2018, would be a fitting day to share this post as it marks the 50 year anniversary of Apollo 8 landing back on Earth after successfully orbiting the moon.
“Once a photograph of the Earth, taken from outside, is available, we shall, in an emotional sense, acquire an additional dimension… Once let the sheer isolation of the Earth become plain to every man, whatever his nationality or creed, and a new idea as powerful as any in history will be let loose.”
Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer (1948)
On January 23rd of 1968, with Cold War tensions running high, North Korean patrol boats intercepted and captured a U.S. surveillance ship, opening fire and wounding the American commander and several others. The 83 crew members were bound, blindfolded, and tortured which sparked an 11-month crisis between the two countries.
One week later, the People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and the Viet Cong moved the battle from the jungle into the cities, launching a wave of surprise attacks throughout South Vietnam. This military campaign, now known as the Tet Offensive, was the largest attack at this point from either side in the Vietnam War and is often seen as a major turning point in the public opinion of the US involvement.
U.S. casualties in Vietnam were setting new highs while rallies and protests would erupt on college campus all throughout the U.S.. Walter Cronkite, CBS Evening News anchorman and “most trusted man in America” went to Vietnam and witnessed the aftermath firsthand. Upon his return he advised the United States in a highly critical report to negotiate “…not as victors, but as an honorable people who lived up to their pledge to defend democracy, and did the best they could.”
This was just the beginning of a year that would go on to see violent clashes in Paris, deadly protests in Mexico City and Chicago, an invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviet Union, and the tragic assassinations of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. After this string of unexpected and unfortunate events, 1968 was in need of an uplifting message. That message would arrive in the form of the high stakes Apollo 8 mission just 10 days before the year’s end.
Enter Apollo 8
Originally slated as an earth-orbiting mission, NASA made the bold decision to attempt an even more daring mission to orbit the moon for the first time in history.
On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 crew would launch into outer space. Just eleven minutes after lift off, with engines shut off, the crew would settle into Earth’s “parking orbit” awaiting official permission to break free from Earth’s gravitational field for the first time and venture off toward the moon. Permission was granted and on the second lap around Earth the crew re-ignited the third stage rocket for just over 5 minutes reaching a speed of over 24,000 miles per hour aiming precisely to be captured by the moon’s gravitational pull.
The crew would remain in lunar orbit for 20 hours and on the 10th lap, while on the far side of the moon and out of contact with Mission Control, they would ignite the engine, breaking free from our natural satellite and begin the journey back toward Earth. On this leg of the trip, astronaut Bill Anders is quoted saying, “I think Isaac Newton is doing most of the driving now.” A fitting statement considering the speeds that would be reached as the crew fell back to Earth from the moon. Author Robert Poole brilliantly illustrates the precision needed to successfully execute this miraculous re-entry in his ‘Earthrise’ book:
“Dipping down from Earth orbit was one thing, but plummeting in at 25,000 miles an hour from a quarter of a million miles up was quite another. They had to skip the craft in and out of the atmosphere to slow it down, like a pebble skimming on a lake… Too shallow an angle and the craft would bounce off the atmosphere into space, beyond all hope of rescue; too steep and it would burn up like a meteor.”
After 6 days, 3 hours, 42 minutes from launch, the crew would splash down in the North Pacific Ocean on December 27th. The mission was complete.
In under a week’s time, NASA had demonstrated a new level of technological sophistication in space travel. The astronauts broke records for how fast and how far humans had ever traveled. They were the first people to leave Earth’s orbit, and in the process, they were first to see the far side of the moon.
During this scouting mission they took close up snapshots of potential landing sites which would aid the renowned Apollo 11 mission on their successful lunar landing seven months later. This, of course, fulfilled President John F. Kennedy’s wishes to land on the moon by the end of the decade.
You saved 1968
1968 was a dreary and turbulent year — one of bad news followed by more bad news. But during this voyage in late December, the astronauts were able to actively deliver another kind of news — news of hope and inspiration — directly to over one billion people all over the world via live radio and television broadcasts.
The three astronauts were viewed as heroes and received many telegrams after the successful mission. One particular telegram stood out to Astronaut Frank Bowman. It simply read, “Thanks, you saved 1968.”
Whether it is possible to save such a tumultuous year is debatable but the fact that they were able to pull off such a daring mission certainly gave the world a sense of hope. It also gave the world an entirely new perspective.
The broadcast allowed the masses to view the Earth from the outside which revealed our place in the depth of space. The “Earthrise” photograph — an image of a bright blue, half-lit Earth in a sea of darkness rising above the cratered lunar surface 240,000 miles away — inspired an inward shift of focus toward the human condition and a deeper contemplation of our fragile existence. This one humbling photo, taken by the Apollo 8 crew on their fourth orbit of the moon, is believed to have spread a higher level of connection among the people and to the Earth itself. This Earthrise photo is credited with influencing the first Earth Day in 1970 and, in fact, adventure photographer Galen Rowell called the photo, “the most influential environmental photograph ever taken.”
“To see the Earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the Earth together, brothers on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold — brothers who know now that they are truly brothers.” Archibald MacLeish, 1968 NYT
Overview Effect
The Apollo 8 mission brought a literal new worldview to the people back on Earth. Meanwhile, the firsthand view aboard the craft brought each of the astronauts a life-altering, cognitive shift.
Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman would later write in his autobiography that the sight of the Earth sent a “torrent of nostalgia, of sheer homesickness” surging through him. He would also call the sight the most beautiful he had ever seen.
This is not an uncommon reaction among the hundreds of astronauts that have now had the unique opportunity to travel far enough into space to look back and Earth-gaze. Edgar Mitchell, Apollo 14, found himself in a unique position, even for an astronaut. After he and the crew left the moon most of his responsibilities were completed so he had a bit more time to look around and think. For three days on the return home his window view changed from the Earth, to the moon, to the sun every 2 minutes on constant rotation. Earth, moon, sun. Earth, moon, sun. Every 2 minutes, for 3 days, each celestial body coming in and out of view.
Mitchell describes this heroic dose of awe in his book, ‘The Way of the Explorer’:
“I was overwhelmed with the sensation of physically and mentally extending out into the cosmos. The restraints and boundaries of flesh and bone fell away. I realized that this was a biological response of my brain attempting to reorganize and give meaning to information about the wonderful and awesome processes I was privileged to view from this vantage point.”
This cognitive shift in awareness produced by viewing Earth from outer space is known as the Overview Effect and it appears to have had a lifelong impact for all who have encountered this overwhelming sensation of wonder and awe. This shift in perspective increased their individual self-awareness and humility. It changed the way they perceived reality which led to a newfound level of interconnectedness with, and a deeper respect for, all of humankind.
Edgar Mitchell, for instance, would go on to research this immense feeling for the rest of his life by co-creating the Institute of Noetic Sciences. This nonprofit is “dedicated to supporting individual and collective transformation through consciousness research, transformative learning, and engaging a global community in the realization of our human potential.”
Remaining Open — Seeking our own Overview Effects
Few of us will have the chance to stare back at our planet as it is set against an infinitely deep, black backdrop. Fortunately though, a well nurtured curiosity will inevitably generate new perspectives. We have the opportunity to actively seek our own long-lasting, perspective-shifting experiences — our own overview effects — through the courage to face the unknown, and a willingness to be transformed.
Some of these gained perspectives will undoubtedly be more useful than others but the accumulation of these viewpoints — fresh ideas, unfamiliar places, and interesting people — will allow us to construct a more complete view of the ever-changing world.
This post is an excerpt of a book in process. If you would like to know when the book is ready or would like to follow along with the research, add yourself to my mailing list and I’ll keep you updated.
