Astronauts

In last weekend’s Financial Times (a very highbrow newspaper) I came across a series of interviews with astronauts from all around the world. I particularly liked what Jim Lovell had to say about his time in space:

“The impression I got up there wasn’t what the moon looked like so close up, but what the Earth looked like. The lunar flights give you a correct perception of our existence. You look back at Earth from the moon and you can put your thumb up to the window and hide the Earth behind your thumb. Everything you’ve ever known is behind your thumb, and that blue-and-white ball is orbiting a rather normal star, tucked away on the outer edge of a galaxy. You realise how insignificant we really all are. Everything you’ve ever known – all those arguments and wars – is right behind your thumb.”