Retired NASA astronaut Ron Garan has dedicated his life to the advancement of space exploration. He’s travelled over 71 million miles and over 2,800 orbits around the Earth while aboard the International Space Station. Along with these accomplishments and flights on the Space Shuttle and Soyuz under his belt, Garan will now be the Chief Pilot for World View, a commercial balloon spaceflight company that will fly passengers to the edge of space to experience the awe of a global, unifying perspective.
Ron Garan is well known for his philosophical take on space travel or what he calls the “Orbital Perspective.” This idea, sometimes called the Overview Effect, was alsopromoted by late Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell and it describes the overwhelming experience of seeing Earth from space and the shift in perspective astronauts undergo while on their missions. “It really gives you the sense that each and every one of us is riding through the universe on the spaceship that we call Earth,” said Garan to the Observer. “It really hit me and gave me deep feelings of not only interconnectedness but of kinship with all of our fellow crew mates on spaceship Earth.”
