Looking Down to Look Forward

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Space travelers have some useful viewpoints on ground travel.

In The Apollo Chronicles by Brandon R. Brown, astronaut Neil Armstrong is quoted as saying that America won the 1960's "space race" because it faced four issues successfully: Leadership, Threat, Economy, and Talent. In the new book Back to Earth, astronaut Nicole Stott reminds us of what Frank White, a space philosopher and author, calls the "Overview Effect." 

Flying across the country and looking out the window of an airplane…From his view thirty thousand feet above the Earth, all of what he saw below appeared small and insignificant.

“I knew that people down there were making life and death decisions on my behalf and taking themselves very seriously as they did so,” he told me. “From high in the jet stream, it seemed absurd that they could have an impact on my life. It was like ants making laws for humans.… I knew, though, that when the plane landed, everyone on it—me included—would act just like the people over whom we flew.”

Stott uses the viewpoints she acquired during her trips to the International Space Station to lay out seven simple goals. I won't go into the details of each -- for that, read the book! -- but the bottom line is simple for those of us who care about passenger rail. Stott's focuses fit amazingly well with the goals we are expounding. Passenger rail bring significant economic, environmental and equity benefts to the communities it serves.

Back to Earth: What Life in Space Taught Me About Our Home Planet—And Our Mission to Protect It
Nicole Stott
Basic Books, Oct 12, 2021 - Science - 304 pages

--CH