The Overview 05/31
MAY — A Moment to Reflect and a Future to Imagine
“What if there’s a cognitive shift similar to the Overview Effect that impacts all eight billion of us? It’s a recognition of what our intuition already tells us is most likely: that we are not alone in the universe. I call it the Great Recognition. And that’s one of many reasons why we do what we do — we ask the best big questions. ”
If you’ve been following these newsletters over the past few months, you know that Space for Humanity moved through March and April at warp speed — from our “Project Hail Mary” collaborations in Washington, D.C. and New York City, to appearances at SXSW and Awesome Con, to witnessing the launch of Artemis II, and later getting up close and personal with the Orion capsule following its return to Earth. Along the way, we were also proud to represent the organization at events hosted by the United Nations and the Italian Embassy. Truthfully, after such an extraordinary stretch, we needed a few weeks to catch our breath, and May finally gave us the opportunity to do just that.
Even so, we continued to enjoy some of the ripple effects from those incredible experiences, including auctioning off an Artemis II-themed swag bag packed with NASA and Space for Humanity memorabilia, as well as launching a sweepstakes collaboration with Penguin Random House and Andy Weir, author of “The Martian” and “Project Hail Mary.”
May also gave us an opportunity to celebrate an extraordinary milestone — the second anniversary of Ed Dwight’s history-making flight to space on May 19, 2024. At age 90, Ed became the oldest person ever to travel to space, further cementing his remarkable legacy in aerospace history.
But more than anything, May became a moment to reflect on the incredible experiences we’ve shared over the past several months, recharge our batteries, and prepare for an equally exciting summer still to come.
That said, we certainly didn’t spend the entire month relaxing…
On May 14, the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute held its annual Drake Awards, named in honor of pioneering astronomer Frank Drake. The evening brought together scientists, students, and space enthusiasts to celebrate visionary researchers and innovators whose work is expanding humanity’s understanding of life in the universe. Space for Humanity was invited to take part in the luminous evening.
Among the evening’s speakers was Amaresh Kollipara, Chairman of the Board at SETI and Co-Vice Chairman of the Board at Space for Humanity, who reflected on the Overview Effect — the profound cognitive shift experienced by many astronauts when seeing Earth from space and recognizing, often for the first time, the true fragility of our planet and the deep interconnectedness of those who call it home. But for Amaresh and SETI, there is another transformational perspective shift they hope humanity soon experiences: “The Great Recognition.”
“Within the lifetime of the vast majority of people in this room, we will, with some degree of scientific certainty, answer the question: ‘Are we alone?’” Kollipara told those gathered at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. “Imagine that day. I would call that a species-level cognitive shift. A species-level Overview Effect, if you will. It would actually completely transform every fiber of the fabric of what it means to be human. Every subject you can think of — from the natural sciences, biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, astrophysics, religion, spirituality, sociology, anthropology, the arts, linguistics. Imagine that transformed moment impacting every possible human on the planet — an eight-billion-person cognitive shift.”
Both SETI Institute and Space for Humanity are united by a shared belief that expanding humanity’s perspective — whether by seeing Earth from space or by deepening our understanding of the cosmos — has the power to profoundly reshape how we see ourselves and how we treat one another, helping to inspire a more hopeful, cooperative, and optimistic future. In the years ahead, SETI and Space for Humanity look forward to exploring meaningful opportunities for collaboration as we work together to make that future a reality.
As we close out this newsletter, we’d also like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Space for Humanity Citizen Astronaut Ambassador Emily Calandrelli, who recently welcomed her third child, Lily Bradley, into the world. Emily affectionately refers to her daughter as her “moon girl,” as Lily arrived on the heels of the Artemis II mission, which sent the first woman to the Moon.
Lastly, as a bonus this month, we have an interview Space for Humanity’s Executive Director, Antonio Peronace, did with the Federal News Network, discussing the Artemis II mission and how it once again puts humans front and center after decades of robotic missions.
See you in June!
#2Space4Earth
See you next month with more news, more launches, and a lot more "space" for YOU to connect with our Citizen Astronauts!
The S4H Team
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