Three astronauts describe their experience seeing Earth from space. They note how small and fragile the planet looks, and how national boundaries disappear when viewed from above. Later astronauts express realizing our shared humanity and interdependence from the perspective of space. One says they understood "we are all sailing in the same boat." Overall, the document conveys astronauts finding a greater sense of unity and shared stake in Earth's preservation when viewing it from the distance and perspective of space.

1. The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly
alone, Aleksei Leonov, USSR

2. That beautiful, warm, living object looked so fragile,
so delicate, that if you touched it with a finger it would
crumble and fall apart. James Irwin, USA

3. The first day or so we all pointed to our countries. The
third or fourth day we were pointing to our continents.
By the fifth day, we were aware of only one Earth.
Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Arabian

4. Before I flew I was already aware of how small and
vulnerable our planet is; but only when I saw it from
space, in all its ineffable beauty and fragility, did I
realize that humankind's most urgent task is to
cherish and preserve it for future generations.
Sigmund Jahn, Germany

5. Two words leapt to mind as I looked down on all this:
commonality and interdependence. We are one world.
John David Bartoe, U. S. A.

6. From space, I saw Earth -- indescribably beautiful
with the scars of national boundaries gone.
Muhammad Ahmad Faris, Syria

7. I understood that we are all sailing in the same boat.
Vladimir Kovalyonok, Russia

8. The things that we share in our world are far more
valuable than those which divide us.
Donald Williams, USA

9. What would
your message
from space
be?

10. I bet you didn’t notice that THE is repeated twice!
triangle below.
Read out loud the text inside the

11. What words can you see?

12. What words can you see?

13. There are six. Spotting three or four is common. Six means you are a
genius! Your brain cannot process the word of, so it does not notice that it
is there. WEIRD!!!
THE EXPERIENCE OF YEARS...
FIC STUDY COMBINED WITH
SULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTI
FINISHED FILES ARE THE RE
phrase?
How many Fs are there in this

14. O lny srmat poelpe can ra ed
this.
I cdnuolt blveiee that I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd what I
was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan
mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a
word are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the first and
last ltteer be in the rgh it pclae. The rset can be a taotl
mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs
is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter
by istlef, but the word as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?! Yaeh
and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! If you can
raed th is psas it on !!

16. Red Lines 1
This is a photograph of Neuchatel, Switzerland. It looks like someone has taken a
red pencil and has drawn a couple of lines on the picture, right ? Wrong !

17. Red Lines 2
The red lines you see are actually PAINTED ON THE BUILDINGS ! It only looks
right from one particular viewpoint.