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geokills
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Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space 4
#27990915 - 10/09/22 08:18 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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And to top that off, here’s an excerpt from William Shatner’s new book “Boldly Go”, specifically his reflections on his recent visit to outer space on the Blue Origin space tourist rocket… I thought it was worth the read.
Quote:
So, I went to space.
Our group, consisting of me, tech mogul Glen de Vries, Blue Origin Vice President and former NASA International Space Station flight controller Audrey Powers, and former NASA engineer Dr. Chris Boshuizen, had done various simulations and training courses to prepare, but you can only prepare so much for a trip out of Earth’s atmosphere! As if sensing that feeling in our group, the ground crew kept reassuring us along the way. “Everything’s going to be fine. Don’t worry about anything. It’s all okay.” Sure, easy for them to say, I thought. They get to stay here on the ground.
During our preparation, we had gone up eleven flights of the gantry to see what it would be like when the rocket was there. We were then escorted to a thick cement room with oxygen tanks. “What’s this room for?” I asked casually.
“Oh, you guys will rush in here if the rocket explodes,” a Blue Origin fellow responded just as casually.
Uh-huh. A safe room. Eleven stories up. In case the rocket explodes.
Well, at least they’ve thought of it.
When the day finally arrived, I couldn’t get the Hindenburg out of my head. Not enough to cancel, of course—I hold myself to be a professional, and I was booked. The show had to go on.
We got ourselves situated inside the pod. You have to strap yourself in in a specific order. In the simulator, I didn’t nail it every time, so as I sat there, waiting to take off, the importance of navigating weightlessness to get back and strap into the seat correctly was at the forefront of my mind.
That, and the Hindenburg crash.
Then there was a delay.
“Sorry, folks, there’s a slight anomaly in the engine. It’ll just be a few moments.”
An anomaly in the engine?! That sounds kinda serious, doesn’t it?
An anomaly is something that does not belong. What is currently in the engine that doesn’t belong there?!
More importantly, why would they tell us that? There is a time for unvarnished honesty. I get that. This wasn’t it.
Apparently, the anomaly wasn’t too concerning, because thirty seconds later, we were cleared for launch and the countdown began. With all the attending noise, fire, and fury, we lifted off. I could see Earth disappearing. As we ascended, I was at once aware of pressure. Gravitational forces pulling at me. The g’s. There was an instrument that told us how many g’s we were experiencing. At two g’s, I tried to raise my arm, and could barely do so. At three g’s, I felt my face being pushed down into my seat. I don’t know how much more of this I can take, I thought. Will I pass out? Will my face melt into a pile of mush? How many g’s can my ninety-year-old body handle?
And then, suddenly, relief. No g’s. Zero. Weightlessness. We were floating.
We got out of our harnesses and began to float around. The other folks went straight into somersaults and enjoying all the effects of weightlessness. I wanted no part in that. I wanted, needed to get to the window as quickly as possible to see what was out there.
I looked down and I could see the hole that our spaceship had punched in the thin, blue-tinged layer of oxygen around Earth. It was as if there was a wake trailing behind where we had just been, and just as soon as I’d noticed it, it disappeared.
I continued my self-guided tour and turned my head to face the other direction, to stare into space. I love the mystery of the universe. I love all the questions that have come to us over thousands of years of exploration and hypotheses. Stars exploding years ago, their light traveling to us years later; black holes absorbing energy; satellites showing us entire galaxies in areas thought to be devoid of matter entirely… all of that has thrilled me for years… but when I looked in the opposite direction, into space, there was no mystery, no majestic awe to behold . . . all I saw was death.
I saw a cold, dark, black emptiness. It was unlike any blackness you can see or feel on Earth. 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. It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her.
Everything I had thought was wrong. Everything I had expected to see was wrong.
I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things—that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. In the film “Contact,” when Jodie Foster’s character goes to space and looks out into the heavens, she lets out an astonished whisper, “They should’ve sent a poet.” I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.
It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.
I learned later that I was not alone in this feeling. It is called the “Overview Effect” and is not uncommon among astronauts, including Yuri Gagarin, Michael Collins, Sally Ride, and many others. Essentially, when someone travels to space and views Earth from orbit, a sense of the planet’s fragility takes hold in an ineffable, instinctive manner. Author Frank White first coined the term in 1987: “There are no borders or boundaries on our planet except those that we create in our minds or through human behaviors. All the ideas and concepts that divide us when we are on the surface begin to fade from orbit and the moon. The result is a shift in worldview, and in identity.”
It can change the way we look at the planet but also other things like countries, ethnicities, religions; it can prompt an instant reevaluation of our shared harmony and a shift in focus to all the wonderful things we have in common instead of what makes us different. It reinforced tenfold my own view on the power of our beautiful, mysterious collective human entanglement, and eventually, it returned a feeling of hope to my heart. In this insignificance we share, we have one gift that other species perhaps do not: we are aware—not only of our insignificance, but the grandeur around us that makes us insignificant. That allows us perhaps a chance to rededicate ourselves to our planet, to each other, to life and love all around us. If we seize that chance.
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-------------------- ┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼ ...╬π╥ ╥π╬...
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1234go
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Registered: 07/08/09
Posts: 53,799
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: geokills]
#27990946 - 10/09/22 08:41 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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I was watching that shuttle trip to space live, and Shatner's reaction when he came back down had me in deep thought for several days.
Glad to see he's talking more about it. I'm not a big reader, but I'm definitely gonna get that book.
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The Blind Ass
Bodhi


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Posts: 26,657
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: 1234go] 1
#27990969 - 10/09/22 08:56 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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I was too, he seemed like he had a mini personal psychedelic experience from what I could tell. Very cool stuff. As usual the Captain nails it again.
-------------------- Give me Liberty caps -or- give me Death caps
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1234go
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: The Blind Ass]
#27991031 - 10/09/22 09:35 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Word. I watched it on YouTube several times afterwards...
One of my favorite parts was when he snubbed Bezos with the champagne...like, I'm talkin about somethin serious here, you listenin??
Edited by 1234go (10/09/22 09:43 PM)
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The Blind Ass
Bodhi


Registered: 08/16/16
Posts: 26,657
Loc: The Primordial Mind
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: 1234go]
#27991058 - 10/09/22 09:55 PM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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wait what?
-------------------- Give me Liberty caps -or- give me Death caps
Edited by The Blind Ass (10/09/22 10:11 PM)
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1234go
Ban Lotto Champion


Registered: 07/08/09
Posts: 53,799
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: The Blind Ass]
#27991270 - 10/10/22 02:33 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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After returning to earth, Shatner was trying to explain his feelings about the trip to Bezos. Bezos just turned and walked away to grab some champagne in the middle of his emotional moment. He walked back, and offered Shatner a glass...
Shatner was like...
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The Blind Ass
Bodhi


Registered: 08/16/16
Posts: 26,657
Loc: The Primordial Mind
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: 1234go]
#27991277 - 10/10/22 02:56 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Ok yeah I do remember that and fuck him. I felt that one too bud .
pretty sure I gave bez a psshh-pink combo from my side of the screen.
-------------------- Give me Liberty caps -or- give me Death caps
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1234go
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Registered: 07/08/09
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: The Blind Ass]
#27991281 - 10/10/22 03:04 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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I did too, wanted to smack him. When Captain Kirk speaks you listen...
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CapSlinger


Registered: 05/17/11
Posts: 983
Loc: Colorado rocky mountain high
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: 1234go]
#27991480 - 10/10/22 07:51 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
1234go said: I did too, wanted to smack him. When Captain Kirk speaks you listen...
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TheNewlyNovel
Resident Shaman


Registered: 10/06/22
Posts: 529
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: geokills]
#27991519 - 10/10/22 08:22 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Amazing how Geoff Pesos started out with eBay in Brazil and ends up shooting rockets at the firmament
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geokills
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Registered: 05/08/01
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Re: Earth Moon Origin Theory + William Shatner’s Reflections on Visiting Space [Re: The Blind Ass]
#27991768 - 10/10/22 11:16 AM (1 year, 3 months ago) |
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Here's Shatner's initial reflections in the moment (should start 10 seconds prior to William's speech)... also, I think they edited the video to focus more on Shatner's expression, and may have entirely cut out cowboy Bezos with the champagne! I didn't watch the whole thing again, but I skimmed it a few times and couldn't find the part I was referring to in my quoted comments below...
Quote:
geokills said:
Quote:
The Blind Ass said: Everyone should shut the fuck up and listen to the old man’s wisdom  He’s clearly taking it all in. :
It’s just like he just came down from a heroic psychedelic fungi dose. Epic 
Terrifying…&….Beautiful. Way to go Shatner

For real... I wasn't terribly interested in watching this one (having watched all the other first "consumer class" space missions), but your comment intrigued me. And YES, Shatner, holy shit man, legit brings a tear to my eye, the awe and wonder. And fucking hell, big man Bezos distracted with the champagne at first. He comes around but fucking LOL, goddamn. Shatner is just like crumbling under the immensity of his experience and Bezos is goin' all cowboy, almost a Pavlovian response from him, as someone clinked a glass and drew his attention away from Shatner's initial expressions to engage in a relatively low brow champagne shower.
Anywho, good watch, skip to 2:40 on the stream for the good stuff. 
Quote:
Shatner says: ... you're also in battle inside yourself.
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-------------------- ┼ ··∙ long live the shroomery ∙·· ┼ ...╬π╥ ╥π╬...
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