Latest news with #OverviewEffect
Yahoo
17-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Blue Origin's all-woman space flight made history, but not in the way it's promoting
Gayle King wishes everybody would adopt a more realistic perspective about Monday's Blue Origin space outing. The 'CBS Mornings' co-host has been telling anyone who will listen that what she and her five fellow NS-31 mission crewmembers experienced was not a 'ride.' King insisted it was a true spaceflight that gave her a new impression of how precious life and the Earth are. 'You're way up there and you're very aware of that,' she told Extra on Tuesday, adding that looking at the Earth from more than 300,000 feet above the ground reminded her to 'do better, be better. ' 'We can do that, because we're so small in the scheme of things and we're not here for a very long time when you really think about it,' King offered. 'So we can all be better in what we're doing in our lives.' Spiritually, sure. King was describing her brush with the Overview Effect, space philosopher Frank White's term for the cognitive shift a person experiences when viewing the Earth from space. White's 1987 book discusses how spaceflight augments one's sense of interconnectedness with the rest of humanity. 'All the ideas and concepts that divide us when we are on the [Earth's] surface begin to fade from orbit and the moon,' he wrote. 'The result is a shift in worldview, and in identity.' Enjoying the same life-changing gaze as Oprah Winfrey's best friend requires a person to do a whole lot better financially. Replicating Monday's starstruck mission requires making a $150,000 deposit (fully refundable!) with Jeff Bezos' privately-owned space company to get a return phone call. Don't hit King with that criticism, because she got hers. 'My question is, have y'all been to space? Go to space or go to Blue Origin and see what they do and then come back and say, 'This is a terrible thing,'' she added. The panorama from 62 miles aloft must be grand, but apparently it's impossible to read the room from that distance. Terrible things are always happening on Earth, regardless of the strides made in space travel. Watching Mae Jamison become the first Black woman to go to space aboard the shuttle Endeavour in September 1992 was inspiring. That same month, natural disasters killed and injured tens of people in Hawaii, France and Nicaragua. Today, the United States contends with an administration that reviles scientific expertise and quells curiosity. NASA is staring down a possible 50% cut in funding for its science programs. And there are the more earthbound concerns about the president's needless trade war, launching us into a recession as the living costs continue to ascend. As such, few commoners saw Monday's highly publicized private jaunt to the boundary between Earth and space as some giant leap for all womankind. Our ground-level view looked like something far more ordinary: a two-hour and 21-minute Blue Origin infomercial populated with a curated celebrity-heavy crew. By the numbers, the New Shepard rocket's 31st space mission really did make history. King, pop star Katy Perry, documentarian Kerianne Flynn, Nobel Peace Prize nominee Amanda Nguyễn, aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe and Bezos' fiancée Lauren Sánchez comprised the largest all-woman space mission crew since Russian cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova's 1963 solo flight. Tereshkova spent nearly three days up there, while Blue Origin's six-woman party touched the darkness beyond the blue for about 11 minutes. Not all of what they achieved was nominal. The voyage made Nguyễn the first Vietnamese and Southeast Asian woman in space — that's huge. It also established Sánchez as the first future Bezos wife to achieve weightlessness 62 miles above the Earth, just like Reese Witherspoon's TV anchor on "The Morning Show." Meanwhile, what was the tech titan's ex Mackenzie Scott doing? Just giving away her fortune – more than $19 billion of it so far – to materially make the world better right now. Sánchez has talents apart from her betrothed, too. Blue Origin's coverage identifies her as an Emmy award-winning journalist, New York Times bestselling author, pilot, vice chair of the Bezos Earth Fund and mother of three. She brought this space mission together, a glossy Elle magazine feature revealed earlier this month. That fashion shoot doubled as a preview of Monday's glamorous spectacle. Scan a few YouTube videos from Blue Origin's previous excursions, mostly enjoyed by everyday millionaires and some lucky contest winners, and you'll notice a dramatic difference in production values. Monday's company-produced coverage was emceed by NFL commentator Charissa Thompson and co-hosted by CNN Space & Defense correspondent Kristin Fisher, herself the daughter of NASA astronauts, and Blue Origin executive Ariane Cornell. All the voices, from ground control to awe-struck passengers, were female. And the co-hosts took all available opportunities to tout Blue Origin's impressive safety record as if they were selling a line of vehicles. They were, just not to you and me. Blue Origin is a top government contractor. Two weeks ago, Bezos' company was awarded $2.4 billion in the United States Space Force's latest round of procurement for future rocket launches, significantly less than the $5.9 billion the National Security Space Launch program awarded to Elon Musk's SpaceX. This, following another Musk spacecraft exploding mid-air in March, and several months after the world's richest man paid an estimated $288 million for controlling interest in Donald Trump's whims. Bezos only ponied up $1 million for Trump's re-election fund, along with preventing The Washington Post, which he owns, from endorsing Trump's opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris. Yet his rockets land as precisely as Musk's, with fewer reports of publicly embarrassing 'rapid unscheduled disassemblies.' Never mind all that – look up, America! Before Thompson accurately described the NS-31 mission crew as 'the stars of the show,' she invited Fisher to explain why the public should care about this private trip above others. 'I mean, there are some big names on board this flight, and so I think it's really easy to kind of get sucked into the celebrity of it, right? But to do that would really be missing the point,' Fisher said. Which would be . . .? 'This type of space flight is what's making space accessible to everyone, and it really fits the pattern of human exploration from the very beginning,' she continued. 'First, you send the professional explorers, the military test pilots. Then the civilians, the scientists, the engineers — kind of the experts — and then you send everybody else: the singers, the journalists and the activists. So this really fits a pattern here.' Yes, very much like the Samantha Jones rule of fame dictates on 'Sex and the City.' 'First come the gays, then the girls, then? The industry.' That's a version of what we're seeing unfold now, only in space. Like Samantha's affair with dear Smith Jerrod, this highly publicized moment is mainly about image-making. Sánchez would not be in a position to pull off this PR space retreat if her show of female empowerment didn't serve the interests of one of the planet's richest men. Monday's New Shepard expedition reminded me of another theoretical concept, the Total Perspective Vortex. This fictional machine, dreamed up by Douglas Adams for 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy' radio series, proposed that the unlucky beings placed inside it would be crushed by experiencing their absolute insignificance in relation to the rest of the known universe. Its inventor built the TPV to irritate his wife and ended up scrambling her brain, Adams wrote. '[B]ut to his satisfaction, he realized that he had proved conclusively that if life is going to exist in a Universe of this size, then the one thing it cannot afford to have is a sense of proportion.' If Adam's fictional inventor were around to witness the NS-31 mission, he might revise that thought. King pointed out that the NS-31 trek followed the same path as Alan Shepard, for whom the rocket in which she traveled is named. 'You never see a man, a male astronaut, who's going up in space, and they say, 'Oh, he took a ride.' It's always referred to as a flight or a journey,' King told Extra, 'so I feel that's a little disrespectful to what the mission was and the work that Blue Origin does.' A small sense of proportion might have helped King realize that appearing to compare herself to the first American to travel to space may not help her case. Still, Adams understood the comedic potential in the arrogance of privilege. He sent his 'Hitchhiker's' hero Zaphod Beeblebrox through the Vortex only to have the machine confirm his self-regard: 'I'm a really terrific and great guy!' Bezos would like us to think he's that guy, too. His aeronautics company may not have been the first to sail beyond the planet's upper atmosphere; Sir Richard Branson beat him in that .01% space race. However, Bezos invited Captain Kirk onboard one of his vessels in 2021, scoring nonagenarian actor William Shatner a record entry as the oldest living person to touch the black. Sánchez's invite list, therefore, had to be consciously tailored to meet a certain bar for the brand. If her design was to uplift leading women in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, she could have taken her pick of geniuses to make history with her, but where's the clickbait in that? Instead, she aimed for mid-range star power and good stories. Perry's pop-feminist anthems, along with her achievement badge for having survived 14 months of marriage to a predatory xenomorph, make her this mission's closest equivalent to Ellen Ripley, if the "Alien" queen had a soft spot for daisies. Reportedly, she was asked to sing her hit 'Firework,' which, considering her proximity to some of the most combustible substances in existence, might have tested God's urge for a belly laugh. Covering Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World' was a wiser selection; its lyrics don't include the potentially regrettable lines 'Make 'em go, 'Oh, oh, oh'/ As you shoot across the sky.'As for the non-celebrities, Flynn directed a documentary about Lilly Ledbetter's fight for equal pay. Nguyễn was instrumental in drafting the Sexual Assault Survivors' Rights Act, which Congress passed unanimously in 2016. She's also a Harvard graduate who put her plan to join NASA on hold after she was raped to advocate for fellow survivors' rights. Participating in the NS-31 space mission is the fulfillment of a long-deferred dream. When she emerged from the capsule, she revealed that one of the items she brought with her to space was her hospital bracelet from the day that became the dividing line between the woman she was and what she became. 'I got to honor her today,' Nguyễn told Thompson about her former self, one of the webcast's few legitimately moving moments. Meanwhile, Bowe, who has won multiple awards for her contributions to aerospace engineering, revealed that she performed 'as a science payload operator flying multiple experiments,' including wearing a BioButton for TRISH, a NASA-funded research institute, to study how women's bodies respond to spaceflight. 'I didn't go to space just for the view,' Bowe posted on Instagram Wednesday. Maybe we're all looking at this the wrong way. Since Bezos' main competitor in the world's richest man pageant is running around bragging about his plan to seed more wombs, these testimonials emphasize the nobility in the Blue Origin founder's space flight sponsorship. If only Bowe and Nguyễn's mission accomplishments weren't overshadowed by Perry waving a daisy offering bumper sticker wisdom about 'collective energy' and 'making space for future women and taking up space and belonging.' She means well, but that doesn't change her role in promoting the interests of a billionaire who's more interested in leaving most of humanity behind as opposed to saving it. Bezos would like us to believe women can do anything within prescribed limits, whether that means the Kármán line dividing the world from the rest of the galaxy or the price point closing off space travel from the rest of us. King had some thoughts about that, too. 'If you get enough people who are interested' in commercial space travel, she proposed, 'it doesn't have to be that expensive.' If you're famous enough, it might not cost anything at all.
Associated Press
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
NASA AND PRIVATE ASTRONAUTS TO APPEAR AT THE 2025 INTERNATIONAL SPACE DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE
The ISDC Will be Held on June 19-22 in Orlando, Florida 'We're thrilled to have these luminaries joining us for the ISDC ... their experiences and insights will be an inspiration for us all!''— Isaac Arthur, President of the National Space Society KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL, UNITED STATES, April 15, 2025 / / -- A slate of NASA and private astronauts will be appearing at the National Space Society's 43rd International Space Development Conference® (ISDC®), to be held in Orlando, Florida on June 19-22, 2025. It's a premiere year for the ISDC with an impressive list of speakers. NASA astronauts Chris Ferguson, Susan Kilrain, Robert 'Hoot' Gibson, and Dr. Story Musgrave are featured speakers, as are private astronauts Jared Isaacman and Dr. Sian Proctor. The full schedule of speakers is available at the ISDC website. 'We're thrilled to have these luminaries joining us for the ISDC,' said Isaac Arthur, NSS President. 'From shuttle and ISS astronauts to those from the new and thriving private sector, their experiences and insights will be an inspiration for us all!' Also appearing at this year's conference are space visionary Dr. Martine Rothblatt, former NASA Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Green, 'Overview Effect' author Frank White, NASA Associate Administrator Dr. Nicola Fox, planetary scientist from the SETI institute and NASA Ames Dr. Pascal Lee, bestselling science fiction author Joe Haldeman, and UCF Associate Provost for Space Commercialization and Strategy Dr. Greg Autry. Conceptual space artist Bryan Versteeg, Editor-in-Chief Tariq Malik and 'Ad Astra' magazine Editor-in-Chief Rod Pyle will also appear. The ISDC is the oldest and largest citizen's space conference in the world, and everyone is invited to attend. Special discounts are available for seniors, students, and National Space Society members. For more information, see the conference website at ABOUT THE NSS The National Space Society is the preeminent non-partisan citizens' voice on space exploration, development, and settlement, reaching millions through its membership, numerous outreach channels, and media activities. The organization was founded in 1987 via a merger of the National Space Institute and the L5 Society. To learn more about the NSS and its mission to establish humanity as a spacefaring species, visit us on the web at Rod Pyle National Space Society +1 626-399-4440 email us here Visit us on social media: Facebook X LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
How Sen's 4K live cameras on the ISS offer a new perspective from space (op-ed)
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Charles Black is Founder and CEO of Sen. Looking at our planet from space gives you a different view of life on Earth, one which has the power to change the way we think and the way we act. Seeing Earth from space has largely been the preserve of a few hundred astronauts — around 700 humans have seen Earth from space in the six decades since Yuri Gagarin's historic first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961. The precise emotions and sentiments experienced when viewing the planet from above are individual and various, but the overall effect is invariable — a deeply profound change in perception about our world and life on Earth. Frank White, author and space philosopher, created the term "The Overview Effect" to describe this cognitive shift that astronauts experience when they see Earth from space. White writes: "Ever since my book, 'The Overview Effect: Space Exploration and Human Evolution,' was published in 1987, people have been saying to me, "Somebody should put a camera in orbit and continuously send pictures of the planet back to Earth. That way, all of us could experience the Overview Effect all of the time. "I always said, 'Yes, someone should do it, and I will support them, but it probably won't be me'" Well, now Sen has done it, and this is a huge breakthrough. Of course, a picture or video is not the same as the Overview Effect itself. However, we urgently need to use every means available to show people that the Earth is a whole system in which everything is interrelated and interconnected. So, I wholeheartedly support Sen, and am looking forward to the future, when no one is saying to me, 'Wouldn't it be cool if somebody put a camera in orbit ...' Because it has been done!" The Overview Effect is clearly an extremely significant change in perception experienced by those who look back at Earth from space. Imagine the impact it could have if everyone, not just astronauts, could see Earth from space. This is one of the reasons I founded Sen, to give everyone real-time Ultra High Definition views of Earth so that billions of people can see Earth in a similar way to astronauts and experience the Overview Effect. While seeing Earth from space on real-time video cannot be an identical experience to seeing it with one's own eyes like astronauts do, the experience of video is still important and compelling. It's just different. By analogy, watching your favorite sports team perform live on TV tells you the same story and stirs the emotions as seeing it in person. If you see the game with your own eyes at the stadium, you experience additional senses and emotions, you see things you might not see on TV. But equally, watching the game on TV will offer different and additional perspectives, for example showing close-ups of the action. Multiple TV cameras in different places and different times can tell a story you might not see with your own eyes. Overall, whether in person or on TV, the story is the same and excitement is delivered — it's just a different experience. It's the same with music. Listening to your favorite band live is a wonderful experience, but you still listen to their recordings at all other times. Whether live or recorded, the lyrics are the same, the tunes are the same and there's an emotional connection through the listening. Seeing Earth from space, knowing that it's in real-time, that you're down on the surface will still enable billions of people to experience the Overview Effect — or an Overview Effect - even though the effect is different to what you would experience looking back at Earth from space with your own eyes. Seeing the beauty of Earth and its fragility and susceptibility to natural disasters might change the way people feel about the environment. Those already aware of the need to tackle climate change might gain a new sense of urgency they would not otherwise have had. Those who don't consider climate change an important issue might see that it is real, that's it's having a significant daily impact on communities around the world. And everyone will see that there are no boundaries and that natural disasters are indiscriminate and negatively impact people all around the world. The truth is clear for all to see — taking action on climate change is a global issue and a global responsibility. Chris Hadfield, who spent numerous months in space over three space missions, including as Commander of the International Space Station, described the Overview Effect in this way:"It's supremely important for us to take care of each other and the day to day, and to recognize the incredible luck and uniqueness of the fact that we are alive on this little Eden of a place. We humans are the most intelligent life that there is any geologic record of ever existing here. We must think about the level of responsibility that comes with that, and how to be good stewards of this only home we know of." Seeing Earth from space shows the big picture context, the reality of our existence on a planet all sharing the same space. It's one world, with billions of years of life potential. The peoples' planet — not "ours" as in ownership, but "ours" to look after for all people of all future generations. I believe the unique space perspective has the power to unify humanity and that the story of Earth and our future in space is a story about all of us. We all need to be fully informed and play a part in looking after the planet. We are just temporary guardians for future generations, who will also be guardians for their future generations. As retired NASA astronaut Nicole Stott says "We're crewmates not passengers" on spaceship Earth. That's the reality. Space isn't something "up there". We're in it, moving through space right now on the most beautiful planet full of life and so many species and environments. Looking at Earth from above can inspire global change if the changes in individuals' perception and the available data are turned into action. This is why I believe it's important there is a continuous livestream of video of Earth from space, telling the story of planetary change, raising awareness of the climate crisis and hopefully leading to action from the people. Political will and law-making, changes in corporate habits and activities are driven by the will of the people. Another important reason to see video of Earth from space is simply this: it's the truth. Sen is streaming truth. In a world where AI-generated imagery and video is becoming ever more intelligent and accurate, the distinction between reality and fakery is becoming blurry. Seeing real-time views of Earth from space as it changes from night to day is a form of truth, a continuous dose of reality about life on Earth; a reality check, a wake-up call, a calming influence in a time of unstable geopolitics. The vision of Sen is to democratize space using video to inform, educate, inspire and benefit all humanity. We want to use the story-telling power of video to inspire, empowering everyone to witness planetary change and humanity's exploration of space. RELATED STORIES: — Watch Earth and space in 4K with Sen's new 24/7 livestream from the ISS (video) — Space philosopher Frank White on 'The Overview Effect' and humanity's connection with Earth — Monstrous Hurricane Milton captured in 4K video by new Sen cameras on ISS Sen already has a satellite in orbit, and more are being built to form a constellation. We're also planning to put video cameras into deep space to get additional perspectives of Earth as well as the moon and one day hopefully Mars. Sen's "SpaceTV-1" mission on the International Space Station was designed and built by Sen and will livestream Earth in 4K, giving everyone high quality views of Earth's horizon and looking down at the ground. The system will also demonstrate real-time overlay of mapping information for the camera view looking straight down. This use of Augmented Reality is designed to help people know instantly what area of the planet they are watching. I encourage everyone to see Earth from space, you can see it live now on and or download our app for your iOS device. It's free for everyone, so please watch Earth live and experience a new way of seeing our home world ⎯ it's a story about all of us, unfolding in real-time before us, guardians empowered with responsibility for our future.
