Dr Iya Whiteley is a Space Psychologist & Director for the Centre for Space Medicine, at University College London. She works with the psychological needs of astronauts who must to acclimatise to the strange environment of space for long stretches of time. She described to author, Dr Diana Pasluka, how most astronauts who for the first time look down upon the Earth from space, experience major ontological disequilibrium. Seeing the Earth as a big blue marble floating in the vastness of infinite, limitless space, is not a neutral experience. It has a powerful impact on the mind. Often, the astronauts need psychological support to integrate the experience (so profound that it is). Seeing the Earth like this often changes the consciousness of the astronaut … expansively. It creates a sort of cosmic awe that permeates into the ideas, beliefs and perceptions of the astronaut. And how could it not have such an effect? The cosmos has so much potential to transform us. Our minds and capacity to imagine are such a wonderful gift