Here’s Hoping Earth Imagery Isn’t Too Routine to Inspire!!!

Updated, 9:58 p.m. | Much has been written about the remarkable achievements of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly and his Russian counterpart, cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko, during their (340-day) Year in Space mission aboard the International Space Station. Daniel Victor had a fine overview on Tuesday and make sure to revisit Kenneth Chang’s fascinating package on Kelly and the long mission, in which, as he notes, Kelly and Kornienko experienced 10,880 sunrises* and sunsets in those 340 days.

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Scott Kelly, the NASA astronaut who commanded the “Year in Space” mission on the Space Station, posted 1,000 photographs on Twitter and Instagram over 340 days. Explore them all at WindowsonEarth.org.Credit NASA

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A selfie by NASA astronaut Scott Kelly during his 340-day mission aboard the International Space Station.Credit NASA

This post is simply a brief note of thanks to Kelly, in particular, for sharing 1,000 images of Earth shot from the space station and posted on Twitter and Instagram using the #yearinspace hashtag.

You can sift the entire batch at WindowsOnEarth.org, a website featuring photography by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. In a related contest, starting on March 7 on Facebook, you can make the case for your favorites. (The primary source for such images is NASA’s Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.*)

Given how such imagery has become so commonplace, I found myself wondering this week whether such views of Earth have retained the ability to inspire and meaningfully engage people back on the surface with the reality that all of our triumphs and tragedies, dreams and defeats are limited to a tiny “pale blue dot,” as Carl Sagan so eloquently put things two decades ago (it was this phrase that inspired the name of this blog back in 2007).

I’d like to hear from you on this question. I especially hope to hear from young people who’ve grown up with an unremarkable top-down view of the aurora borealis.

Here’s the answer I got from Dan Barstow, the education manager for the International Space Station National Lab, who also curates an online collection of space station photography*:

I’ve been involved in Earth and space science education for years.  And there’s no question. These images continue to inspire and engage. They are masterpieces of science and art.  And like most art, their power is emotional. They engage, inspire and most importantly, help us see the Earth as a whole planet.

I’ve reviewed hundreds of thousands of images, and shared them through the web, through public presentations, in art galleries, and in educational lessons. These photos never fail to inspire “wow” moments.

I remember asking astronaut Karen Nyberg how her photography changed over her six months in space.  She said that at first she focused on the science and planetary geography — weather events, volcanoes, retreating glaciers, the aurora, cities at night…. But then she began to focus more on the sheer beauty of Earth, the artistic side. And she certainly took some wonderful evocative photos.

The astronauts take hundreds of pictures every day.  Many are tasked by scientists — a daily list of priority targets. But most are taken directly from the astronauts’ hearts and souls. “Oh wow! Look at that.” Click.  “And that!” Click.

Remember, this is hand-held photography. They use Nikon D4 digital cameras with a whole range of lenses. And just like anyone traveling, the camera helps them engage with the views and share them with the world.

And that is the real power of these photos. They go right from the astronaut’s heart to our own. They inspire something deep within all of us — a love for our home planet. The astronauts are our human eyes in space. At just the right time in our history, when we all need to see the Earth from afar, we need to build this planetary consciousness, so we can become the shepherds this great planet requires.

I need to ask this question because I feel deeply biased by my upbringing. Those of us who came of age during the space race are increasingly outliers.

Through much of our time, each mission seemed to reveal marvelous new views of the home planet. Pivotal, of course, was the chance Apollo 8 photograph in 1968 that came to be known as “Earthrise”:

(Don’t miss the great narrated NASA video on the making of that photo, narrated by the Apollo historian Andrew Chaikin.)

I recently got to talk about that moment on StarTalk TV with Neil deGrasse Tyson (and his comedian sidekick Maeve Higgins).

Since then, wonders have never ceased. Consider Cassini’s views of Earth from beyond the rings of Saturn.

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On July 19, 2013, NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this image of Saturn's rings and Earth (the bright dot below the rings). More from NASA here.Credit NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

Late last year, the era of nonstop “blue marbles” began, and this new “Earthrise” view, as well:

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A new "Earthrise" image of Earth and the lunar horizon. Background is at j.mp/newearthrise.Credit NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University

So, let me know what you think, and — more important — how you feel, when you get a chance to look at yourself through the eyes, heart and lens of a space-faring hero.

Postscripts  | * I forgot to include a link to the official NASA imagery portal in the initial post. On Twitter, Peter Caltner noted that the mission saw 10,880 sunrises and sunsets, not 10,994, as I originally wrote (which would have been the case if the mission had not been shortened to 340 days).