Space2 min(s) read
Published 12:21 13 Aug 2026 GMT
An astronaut who spent 178 days in space has revealed the realization he came to after seeing Earth.
Across his career, former NASA astronaut Ron Garan racked up 71 million miles in outer space, orbiting the Earth a total of 2,842 times.
But his one takeaway from all that experience in the great, big beyond?
That humanity was 'living a lie.'
Looking over at Earth from the vastness of space, Garan told Forbes that he came to a "sobering" conclusion about the state of our planet.
"I saw the paparazzi-like flashes of lightning storms, I saw dancing curtains of auroras that seemed so close it was as if we could reach out and touch them," Garan recalled to Big Think.
But seeing this just made him come to a realization that left him questioning what hope there was for the future of Earth.
He went on to explain: "I saw the unbelievable thinness of our planet's atmosphere.
"In that moment, I was hit with the sobering realization that that paper-thin layer keeps every living thing on our planet alive."
Garan said that the Earth at that point seemed to him to be "an iridescent biosphere teeming with life" and not just something to be mined for resources.
Expanding on that thought, he said: "Our human-made systems treat everything, including the very life-support systems of our planet, as the wholly owned subsidiary of the global economy, it’s obvious from the vantage point of space that we’re living a lie."
Garan said, however, that by far and away the strangest realization he came to during his time in space was a reconfiguration of his thoughts about human life on Earth.
"The other thing I felt," Garan said, "and I can’t really explain it, is that being completely detached from Earth also made me feel deeply connected with everyone on the planet.
"It was this overwhelming kinship."
It seems that Garan's experience in outer space really did change his perspective on life too.
After retiring as an astronaut, he's dedicated his life to becoming a vocal advocate for the environmental stewardship of Earth.
His aims in stepping up and doing so seemed rooted in the realization that the Earth needs to be protected, and he's now fighting to prioritize the Earth's health over exploiting it for financial gain.
