Anand Mahindra on Sunday shared a snippet written by Canadian actor William Shatner after his space ride on Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin spaceship in 2021 and said that all space travel will be worth if it makes us more appreciative of our own planet.
Taking to Twitter, the industrialist wrote, "What William Shatner (of Star Trek fame) said after his space ride on Bezos’ Blue Origin’s spaceship. Shared by a friend today. Perfect for Sunday reflection. All space travel will be worth if it makes us more appreciative of and more active in making our own planet better."
Anand Mahindra's tweet comes days after Shatner released his new book Boldly Go: Reflections on a Life of Awe and Wonder.
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Describing his experience of flying to space in a Blue Origin spacecraft owned by Jeff Bezos, the actor wrote that when he was in space, he discovered that the beauty isn't "out there", it's "down there" on Earth.
"Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound," the 91-year-old actor, who became the oldest person to go into space, wrote. "It was life. Nurturing, sustaining, life. Mother Earth. Gaia. And I was leaving her."
Shatner added that he later learned that what he was feeling was called the "Overview Effect" and is "not uncommon among astronauts."
"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," the Star Trek actor wrote in his book.
"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."
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