"The sheer beauty of it just brought tears to my eyes. If people can see Earth from up here, see it without those borders, see it without any differences in race or religion, they would have a completely different perspective. Because when you see it from that angle, you cannot think of your home or your country. All you can see is one Earth . . ." --Anousheh Ansari, Iranian-American space tourist, took this photo from the space station.

Only those who have slipped the surly bonds of Earth and trod the untrespassed sanctity of space can fully experience the miracle of our Earth's fragile, precarious and fortunate existence.

I have briefly sensed it as a high altitude Navy fighter pilot at 60,000 feet, skating on the edge of space in my silver Interceptor jet, and was deeply moved ~ but only an astronaut has truly seen the small blue marble that is our home and their words have been recorded here as we celebrate another Earth day.

Allen L Roland     http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2007/04/29.html

HOW FORTUNATE, HOW FRAGILE, AND HOW INSIGNIFICANT WE ARE

By Stephen McGinty

Scotsman (Edinburgh)

April 21, 2007 http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=6&id=612862007

It is called the "Blue Marble." The image of Earth, reduced to a child's toy suspended in the blackness of space. It was Christmas Eve in 1968 when the people of the world first caught a glimpse of their small place in the universe. Apollo 8 had entered lunar orbit and that evening the three astronauts featured in a live television broadcast showing images of our blue planet.

Stuck for words to describe a spectacle never before seen, they reached for the Bible and each man read a passage from Genesis. Frank Borman, the Apollo 8 commander, ended with: "And God called the land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good."

The population of Earth, meanwhile, saw that it was not only good, but fragile. Jim Lovell, the command module pilot, said during the original broadcast: "The vast loneliness is awe-inspiring, and it makes you realize just what you have back there on Earth."

Those first images of Earth also helped to inspire our current environmental movement and led to Earth Day, which will be celebrated this month by 500 million people across 175 countries. Founded by Gaylord Nelson, a senator from Wisconsin, as a means of drawing attention to the plight of the planet, it was first held on April 22,1970. What began with a series of national demonstrations across the U.S. has since rippled out across the globe.

Today, the movement's message -- to highlight concerns over pollution of the soil, air, and water -- has reached as far as China, whose leaders have urged local government to devise events.

This year, to reflect the inspiration behind those original images of our Earth, astronauts were asked to share their reflections on a view from the heavens.

"I see the deep black of space and this just brilliantly gorgeous blue and white arc of the Earth and totally unconsciously, not at all able to help myself, I said, ' Wow, look at that.'" --Kathy Sullivan, first American woman to spacewalk, recalling what she said when she saw Earth in 1984.

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