Scientists study astronauts' intense 'awe'

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Researchers want to understand the awe astronauts experience.
Researchers want to understand the awe astronauts experience.
Image: NASA.
You may not want to get in a rocket and shoot into space, but wouldn't it be nice, just once, to experience the awe known only by astronauts as they look upon our planet?

     As NASA and other space agencies prepare to send astronauts into deep space, researchers believe it is important to understand intense emotional reactions that occur when astronauts see the home planet from space. This sensation is known as the overview effect, and research published in the journal, Psychology of Consciousness, examines the implications for the aeronautical community during missions that could take years.
      These feelings of wonder and amazement come not from poets or transcendentalists, but from men and women with scientific backgrounds. The late Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, once wrote, "It suddenly struck me that that tiny pea, pretty and blue, was the Earth. I put up my thumb and shut one eye, and my thumb blotted out the planet Earth. I didn't feel like a giant. I felt very, very small."
    Researchers analyzed the words of astronauts who documented their views of  Earth from space and saw themes of unity, vastness, connectedness and perception. These positive emotions could help during long space flights, and researchers want to compile recommendations for astronaut well-being, a University of Pennsylvania news release explained.
    Their research concludes that the overview effect “suggests directions for future research on altered states of consciousness in new contexts, with potential implications for better understanding well-being in isolated, confined, extreme environments such as space flight.”
    But researchers also are interested in inducing a similar sensation in non-astronauts, according to the news release. As part of a planned follow-up experiment, participants will Earth gaze using virtual reality.  
    The work was led by research fellows David Yaden and Johannes Eichstaedt and intern Jonathan Iwry.

     Related:

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     Astronaut to return with concerns for Earth

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