Acta Astronautica 166 (2020) 525–528

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Acta Astronautica
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/actaastro

Spirituality, humanism, and the Overview Effect during manned space T

missions
Nick Kanas
University of California, San Francisco, USA

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Many astronauts experience intense emotional reactions to viewing the Earth from space that changes the way they see the planet and humanity's place
in the universe. Frank White has described this phenomenon as the Overview Effect. This has been described in both spiritual and humanistic terms. But what exactly
is the difference or similarity between these two reactions, and to what extent do these reactions reflect new experiences versus pre-launch values? To answer these
questions, a reexamination was made of the findings from our previous study on positive effects of being in space, but with a focus on various aspects of the Overview
Effect.
Methods: The study involved astronauts and cosmonauts recruited from the Association of Space Explorers and the NASA astronaut corps at the Johnson Space
Center. A total of 39 respondents completed the Positive Effects of Being in Space questionnaire, which consisted of 36 statements that subjects were asked to
evaluate in terms of change they experienced as a result of being in space.
Results: The questions clustered into 8 subscales. Although all of the respondents had a positive reaction to being in space, the Perceptions of Earth subscale was the
only one with a mean score that was significantly different from the others, reflecting a moderate degree of change. The Earth was viewed as a beautiful, fragile object
to be treasured, and changes in this perception significantly correlated with a statement that suggested that the respondents became involved in environmental causes
after returning home. In addition to these perceptual changes about the Earth, some subjects said that their space experience gave them a better understanding of the
unity of humankind and a stronger sense of wonder and appreciation for the Cosmos, but to a small degree of change from pre-launch values. A subscale indicating
spiritual change scored last among the 8 subscales, resulting in no to very small change. This might have been due to the fact that many respondents indicated that
there was no possibility for change because their feelings about these spiritual issues were already as high as possible before launch.
Conclusions: The findings from this study provide empirical support for the Overview Effect, suggesting that seeing the Earth from space may cause many astronauts
to change their worldview on the fragility of the planet and the unity of humankind. In contrast to this more humanistic reaction, there was essentially no change in
spiritual attitudes as a result of being in space. However, some respondents indicated that their spiritual faith was already high pre-launch and could not change any
more as a result of their mission.

1. Introduction
Many astronauts have reported having intense emotional experi-
ences as a result of viewing the Earth from space. These have included
feelings of awe and transcendence, enhanced spiritual insights, a better
sense of the unity of man, and the perception that our home planet is a
fragile beautiful orb without observable political borders that separate
nations.
Since the late 1980s, Frank White has written about this phenom-
enon, which he calls the Overview Effect [1]. He describes this as a
cognitive shift in awareness as a result of seeing the Earth as a tiny,
fragile ball of life in space that may transform an astronaut's perspective
of the planet and humanity's place in the universe. Common reactions
to this shift in worldview include “a feeling of awe for the planet, a
profound understanding of the interconnection of all life, and a re-
newed sense of responsibility for taking care of the environment” (1, p.
2). For some, this experience expands to a sense that Earth and
humankind are not isolated but are part of something greater: the entire
solar system, or even the whole universe. White believes that many
astronauts who experience the Overview Effect return home and engage
in more humanistic pursuits or activities aimed at changing human
consciousness and protecting the environment. For example, after
leaving NASA, Alan Bean became a professional artist, Edgar Mitchell
founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences to further the study of human
consciousness, and Ronald Garan Jr. became involved with a number of
environment-friendly enterprises, such as the Manna Energy Founda-
tion and Fragile Oasis. But White also notes that other astronauts have
reported no change in their post-mission lives as a result of traveling in
space. Anecdotal support for the Overview Effect has been provided by
Yaden et al. [2], who discussed various aspects of the experience such
as awe, self-transcendence, and cross-cultural issues.
The way the Overview Effect is interpreted can vary among astro-
nauts. Some see it as a spiritual experience. The notion of spirituality
can be interpreted in many ways, from a sense of transcendence due to

E-mail address: nick.kanas@ucsf.edu.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actaastro.2018.08.004
Received 16 March 2018; Received in revised form 26 July 2018; Accepted 3 August 2018
Available online 04 August 2018
0094-5765/ © 2018 IAA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
N. Kanas
a vague metaphysical force to a belief in God as part of an organized
religion. The Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of spirituality is:
“sensitivity or attachment to religious values,” with religion being “the
service and worship of God or the supernatural” that encompasses “a
personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs,
and practices” [3]. An example of this type of experience was reported
by Saudi Prince Sultan Bin Salman al-Saud, who flew on a Space Shuttle
mission as a payload specialist in June 1985. He described his experi-
ence in this way: “I just said, in Arabic, ‘Oh, God,’ or something like
‘God is great,’ when I saw the view … I think it has changed my insight
into life. I've got more appreciation for the world we live in … I think
God has given us so much to be thankful for, and we are wasting so
much time trying to destroy it.” (1, pp. 241–242).
In contrast, other astronauts describe their experience in more hu-
manistic terms that don't imply a metaphysical causality or a religious
belief system. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines humanism as “a
doctrine, attitude, or way of life centered on human interests or values;
especially: a philosophy that usually rejects supernaturalism and
stresses an individual's dignity and worth and capacity for self-reali-
zation through reason” [3]. For example Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 as-
tronaut Michael Collins has said of his experience: “I really believe that
if the political leaders of the world could see their planet from a dis-
tance of … 100,000 miles, their outlook would be fundamentally
changed. That all-important border would be invisible, that noisy ar-
gument suddenly silenced. The tiny globe would continue to turn,
serenely ignoring its subdivisions, presenting a united facade that
would cry out for unified treatment.” (1, pp. 182–183).
Don Lind, who served as a mission specialist during the Spacelab 3
mission in 1985 (STS-51-B), polled a number of his fellow astronauts,
including all those who went to the Moon, to get a sense of their ex-
perience of being in space. He concluded that there were two universal
reactions to seeing the Earth. The first is a sense of nostalgia for the
home planet, which is more powerful than seeing it from other forms of
transportation, such as an airplane. The second is a sense of brother-
hood related to the lack of political boundaries and the realization that
“the inhabitants of this Earth are stuck on a very beautiful, lovely little
planet in an incredibly hostile space, and everybody is in the same
boat.” (1, p. 237).
In terms of how this sense of brotherhood is expressed, Lind further
says: “People who had a religious background expressed it in religious
terms, and people who didn't expressed it in more humanitarian terms.”
(1, p. 237) He doesn't believe that the experience changed anyone's
views, especially on spiritual matters, after they returned home.
Gallagher et al. [4] studied the experience of awe (i.e., a feeling of
being in the presence of something amazing or sublime) in astronauts
who traveled in space and in students who participated in two Earth-
bound space virtual reality experiments. An analysis of 17 in-flight
journals and 34 post-flight interviews from 45 Space Shuttle and ISS
astronauts revealed many examples of the Overview experience. The
most frequent responses were placed in categories of “aesthetic ap-
preciation” (10.3%), “overwhelmed” (6.7%), and “perspectival change
(spatial)” (6.1%).
The two virtual reality experiments studied 38 and 74 college stu-
dents, respectively, using questionnaires, interviews, and neurophy-
siological tests, such as EEGs. The results suggested that there were
basic life history and EEG differences between those who experienced
awe while undergoing virtual reality presentations of the Earth and
stars in deep space, and those who didn't. The feelings of awe were
more intense in response to images of the Earth than to images of deep
space. EEG findings that there was greater beta activity in the brain
suggested that people watching the Earth were more aroused and at-
tentive. In the Earth viewing condition, awe experiencers acknowl-
edged having lower levels of religious faith and religious practice than
those not experiencing awe, whereas in the deep space condition, this
was true only in terms of religious practice. People who categorized
themselves as “religious” or “spiritual” had different EEG profiles than
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Acta Astronautica 166 (2020) 525–528
those who had labelled themselves as “logical”.
Some of these issues also have been explored by Peter Suedfeld and
his colleagues in the context of personal values. In one study, Suedfeld
and Weiszbeck [5] conducted a thematic analysis of the values and
emotions mentioned in the personal memoirs of four pioneering as-
tronauts. They found that the relative importance of values evolved
over time, with some of these changes being attributable to their space
missions. For example, three of the four astronauts reported an increase
in the value of a measure of Universalism, defined as “understanding,
appreciation, tolerance, and protection for all people and for nature” (5,
p. C7), both during and after their missions. Furthermore, all four re-
ported an increase in Spirituality, defined as “meaning and inner har-
mony through transcendence” (5, p. C7), in the post-mission period.
In a follow-up content analytic study of the published memoirs of
125 American and Russian space travelers, Suedfeld et al. [6] found
that their subjects reported positive changes in measures of Uni-
versalism and Spirituality as a result of their space experiences, with
Russian cosmonauts scoring higher than their American counterparts in
Universalism. Using the same methodology, Brcic and Della-Rossa [7]
found Universalism to be high in the public records of Canadians who
had flown in space.
The results of the present study have been reported elsewhere in
terms of the positive effects of being in space and salutogenesis [8,9].
Those findings that are specific to issues related to the Overview Effect
will be re-presented and discussed here in order to better delineate their
relationship to the space experience, especially as regards to viewing
the Earth. Specific questions to examine are: what exactly is the dif-
ference between spiritual and humanistic reactions to the Overview
Effect, and to what extent do these reactions reflect new experiences
versus pre-launch values?
2. Methods
The study involved astronauts and cosmonauts who had partici-
pated in at least one space mission. Subjects were recruited from two
sources: the Association of Space Explorers and the NASA astronaut
corps at the Johnson Space Center. The final sample consisted of 39
respondents. Of those who recorded answers to our demographic
questions, 92% were American, 86% male, 67% had been on more than
one mission, and 44% had spent more than 30 total days in space.
All respondents completed the Positive Effects of Being in Space
(PEBS) questionnaire, a measure that was specifically developed for this
study. Since some items came from an outside standardized measure
and others were developed by our team, we looked at internal con-
sistency and reliability of the questions and found it to be high, with
overall alpha = .95 (see ref. [9] for additional questionnaire analyses
and specific questions asked). The PEBS consisted of 36 statements that
subjects were asked to evaluate in terms of change they experienced as
a result of their overall space experience in terms of the following ca-
tegories: 0 = no change, 1 = very small change, 2 = small change,
3 = moderate change, 4 = great change, and 5 = very great change.
Subjects also were able to indicate whether or not a 0 response meant
no change due to the experience itself, or that there was no possibility
of change because their feelings about the issue described were already
as high as possible before launch.
3. Results
Every respondent reported at least some positive change as a result
of flying in space.
The Total Mean Change score was 1.72. The questions clustered into
8 subscales, (Table 1). Using a general linear model multivariate ana-
lysis, at least one of the subscales showed significant change as com-
pared with the others (Wilks' Lambda = 0.194, F(7,32) = 19.02,
p < .001). A set of post-hoc t-tests revealed that the mean score of 2.94
(suggesting a moderate degree of change) for the Perceptions of Earth
N. Kanas
Table 1
Subscale rankings.
Mean Change Score
a
1. Perceptions of Earth 2.94
2. Perceptions of Space 1.97
3. New Possibilities 1.84
4. Appreciation of Life 1.79
5. Personal Strength 1.69
6. Changes in Daily Life 1.34
7. Relating to Others 1.30
8. Spiritual Change 0.89
Total Mean Score 1.72
a
Significant: after applying a Bonferroni correction.
subscale was significantly higher than the next highest mean subscale
score of 1.97 for Perceptions of Space at t(38) = 6.19, p < .001.
The Spiritual Change subscale had the lowest mean change score
(0.89). It differed from the next lowest subscale at t(38) = 2.34,
p = .024, but this difference was not significant after we applied a
Bonferroni correction to control for Type I errors (which produced a
new p-threshold of .007).
There were no statistically significant differences in terms of na-
tionality, gender, being on one vs. more than one mission, or spending a
total of 30 or less vs. more than 30 days in space.
The four statements comprising the Perceptions of Earth subscale
and their mean scores are shown in Table 2. The first three Perceptions
of Earth statements scored in the top four of all the statements in terms
of change, and the first statement had the highest mean score of all
(4.18), suggesting that a great amount of change occurred in this item.
Also, the first three statements in this subscale, which all related to
attitudes, each significantly correlated with statement number 4, a
behavioral statement that said the respondent increased his or her in-
volvement in environmental causes after returning from space.
The subscale showing the second highest degree of change was
Perceptions of Space, and the four statements comprising this subscale
and their mean scores are shown in Table 3. Although this subscale was
not significantly different in mean change score from its next-highest
neighbor, the first three statements all scored between 2 and 3 (i.e.,
between a small and moderate degree of change), and their contents
suggest issues related to an expanded version of the Overview Effect
(which will be discussed below).
The two statements comprising the Spiritual Change subscale and
their mean scores are shown in Table 4. Although this subscale failed to
be significantly lower in mean change score than its neighbor after a
Bonferroni correction was applied, it still scored last in the ranking,
suggesting that no to very small change occurred in this item. Note that
the second statement specifically pertains to religious faith, and its
mean change score was tied for third lowest among all the statements.
One statement in the Changes in Daily Life subscale is relevant. The
statement “I gained a stronger appreciation for the unity of humankind”
received a mean score of 2.03, indicating a small degree of change, but
it was still a value that was higher than the Total Mean Change Score of
1.72.
Ten respondents indicated that they were reporting no change in at
least one item because the described experience was already optimal for
them before launch and could not be changed further by being in space.
The item most frequently designated as unchangeable was statement 2
in Table 3, followed by the two statements in Table 4 from the Spiritual
Table 2
Perceptions of Earth: (statements and mean scores).
1. I gained a stronger appreciation of the Earth's beauty (4.18)
2. I learned to appreciate the fragility of the Earth (3.13)
3. I realized how much I treasure the Earth (2.92)
4. I increased my involvement in environmental causes (1.54)
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Acta Astronautica 166 (2020) 525–528
Table 3
Perceptions of Space: (statements and mean scores).
1. I gained a stronger sense of wonder about the universe (2.67)
2. I became more excited about space exploration (2.36)
3. I gained a new appreciation for the boundlessness of the Cosmos (2.03)
4. I became interested in the possibility of life on other planets (0.85)
Table 4
Spiritual Change: (statements and mean scores).
1. I have a better understanding of spiritual matters (0.92)
2. I have a stronger religious faith (0.85)
Change subscale. So for these respondents, their understanding of
spiritual matters and their religious faith were so high before the mis-
sion that the space experience could not affect it.
Eight respondents provided general comments in an open ended
section at the end of the questionnaire. Five of these comments sug-
gested that the respondents' worldview or sense of self had been es-
tablished long before their mission and was fundamentally unchanged
by their space experience.
4. Discussion
All respondents reacted positively to being in space. The most
amount of change, in the moderate category, related to seeing the Earth
and gaining a stronger appreciation of its beauty, fragility, and im-
portance, as shown in Table 2. Respondents also experienced positive
change in their appreciation for the unity of humankind. These cogni-
tive shifts are in keeping with the impressions of astronaut Don Lind
and with Frank White's concepts of the Overview Effect, and our find-
ings provide empirical support for this latter construct, especially for
those aspects dealing with the perception of the Earth from space. They
also echo the findings of Gallagher et al. [4] that the reaction of people
to images of the Earth as seen from space are more stimulating than
visions of deep space, perhaps because the former experience requires
more cognitive shifting from our usual perspective, as the authors
suggest.
Nevertheless, changes in sense of wonder about the universe, ex-
citement about space exploration, and a new appreciation for the
boundlessness of the Cosmos were rated second, although the degree of
change was characterized as being small (Table 3). These results sup-
port White's expanded view of the Overview Effect beyond the planet
Earth. They also reflect the findings of Suedfeld and his colleagues
[5–7] concerning positive changes they found in astronauts in their
measures of Universalism and Spirituality.
There is a suggestion that for some astronauts, their space experi-
ence led to increased involvement with environmental issues after re-
turning home. Our study did not track post-return activities to see if the
respondents did indeed follow through on their actions, but from what
they said, it appears that elements of attitude change can translate into
behavioral change after astronauts return to Earth.
Some respondents volunteered that the space experience did not
have a major impact on their worldview or sense of self. This echoes
comments made by Lind and White in suggesting that astronauts vary in
their values and response to space and are not a homogeneous group in
terms of such issues.
The low mean change scores for the Spiritual Change subscale
(Table 4) suggest that spiritual understanding and religious faith were
little affected by being in space. In addition, these two statements de-
scribed attitudes that were among the top three in terms of being so
strong before flight that they could not be changed as a result of being
in space. This supports the opinion of astronaut Lind that highly re-
ligious space travelers remain that way and non-religious astronauts are
not converted by their experience. This notion was also supported by
N. Kanas
the Gallagher et al. [4] study, where religious beliefs (as well as the
capacity to experience awe) seem to reflect long-standing character-
istics in people that have become part of their physical make-up.
What can we say about the Overview Effect during an interplanetary
mission, such as an expedition to Mars? Here, the Earth will become
progressively smaller and indistinct as the outbound phase of the mis-
sion progresses, whereas the target planet will increase in size and soon
become dominant. Dietrich Manzey and I [10,11] have discussed the
possibility of an Earth-out-of-view phenomenon during such a mission,
where our home planet becomes a dot in the heavens and all that is
important to us back home shrinks to insignificance with respect to the
vast Cosmos. This experience may enhance the sense of isolation and
homesickness in the crewmembers and possibly lead to more serious
reactions, such as depression, psychosis, or suicidal thinking. But on the
positive side, these travelers may gaze out at the approaching new
planet or the universe beyond and be entranced by what they see, es-
sentially experiencing an expansion of the Overview Effect. Such a
traveler filling out our questionnaire may rate the topics listed in
Table 3 as more relevant to their experience than those in Table 2. It
would be fascinating in a future study to ask these interplanetary ex-
plorers about what they found to be most positive during their mission.
To conclude, this study provides empirical support for the Overview
Effect, suggesting that seeing the Earth from space may cause many
astronauts to change their views on the fragility of the planet and the
unity of humankind. In contrast to this more humanistic reaction, there
was essentially no change in spiritual attitudes in our subjects as a re-
sult of being in space. However, some respondents indicated that their
spiritual faith was already high pre-launch and could not change any
more as a result of their mission.
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Acta Astronautica 166 (2020) 525–528
Acknowledgement
Parts of this paper were presented at the Humans in Space
Symposium, Shenzhen, China, November 27–30, 2017.
The author would like to thank Frank White and Dr. Mike Barratt for
their helpful comments on drafts of this paper. The contents of the final
paper are the sole responsibility of the author.
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