Only 24 men have seen the Earth from outside low orbit as they journeyed to the Moon on the Apollo missions of the late 1960’s and 1970’s.

For all of those lucky men and women who have travelled great distances away from our planet, what was it like to look back at Earth?

Those men who have travelled into the realm of space often have had quite profound realisations when seeing their home planet. James B. Irwin (1930-91) described the c as appearing fragile and delicate:

As we got further and further away, it [the Earth] diminished in size. Finally it shrank to the size of a marble, the most beautiful you can imagine. Seeing this has to change a man.

Canada’s first female astronaut, Roberta Bondar (b.1945) said:

To fly in space is to see the reality of Earth, alone. The experience changed my life and my attitude toward life itself. I am one of the lucky ones.

It is very difficult for the Human brain to understand the huge numbers needed to explain the sheer size of the universe.

The realisation of this occurred for the Apollo 11 astronauts when they stood on the moon and blocked out the entire Earth with their thumb.

It did not make them feel like giants but as Neil Armstrong described ‘very, very small.’

To experience the wonder of the Earth from space allows Humans to witness the beauty in our universe. However, we do not all need to leave the planet to appreciate the natural beauty of our home.

The planet Earth is saturated with wonderful awe-inspiring sights, so take a little time out of your busy schedules to appreciate the gift from Mother Nature.