I've just watched the video of Alexander Gerst's Earth photography from his time on the ISS. I found myself frequently exclaiming or uttering quietly in awe, "Wow!". It is hard to not see how beautiful our planet is - the auroras, the patterns swirling in the clouds, the absolute blue of the oceans. The thinness of our atmosphere (particularly noteworthy at 2:11 in the video) yet how durable it seems to be in protecting our planet, despite our best efforts to pollute it. The shift from day to night and the golden hue in the atmosphere. The overwhelming magnificence of the heavens and the unbelievable number of stars (3:25). As I watched at 4:05 to 4:16, I kept wondering what the lit pod was just right of top center in the view and what was happening in it - was the shape moving around an astronaut? If so, what was he doing? Why did the top of the pod swing open and closed? Why did panels cover and uncover the windows? At 4:39, as ISS was sailing over a storm front, my eyes were drawn to the flashes of light produced by lightning, and I noticed a pattern. At the foci of the lightning areas, the clouds above are darker than the surrounding clouds. It led me to wonder why. At each point I was also struck by how amazing the ISS itself is - what an piece of engineering and international cooperation. What humanity can do together when we set aside our petty differences and work together for our common good.
This experience of watching illuminated a recognition about myself. I was simultaneously both consumed with speechless wonder and my mind was filled with questions. Perhaps that is the heart of science - that duality of childlike amazement and curiosity that generates "WOW!" and a question, often at the same moment and sometimes in quick sequence. This realization also led me to another question - what do today's young people experience? Do they still have a sense of wonder or is it lost never to be reclaimed. The latter possibility profoundly scares me as well as leads me to feel incredibly sad at how much richer my experience in life must be in comparison, even though I do not lead an exciting life by any shape of the imagination. Were I to dwell on that too long, my thoughts would turn to my absolute frustration with and disgust for modern education and "no child left behind" in which all children are left behind. So, not wanting to turn down that darker road, I return to the video to watch it again and experience anew my sense of wonder and curiosity.
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