Seeing the Earth from space “turns you into an environmentalist”, former NASA astronaut Andy Thomas says.
Thomas, a native Adelaidean, flew four space missions, spending about six months in space, much of it on Russia’s Mir space station.
He describes what it’s like to get such a different perspective – it’s been dubbed the “Overview Effect”.
“You get an appreciation of the finite resources represented by the Earth,” he says.
“I remember one day I was flying and there were some fires burning in Central America, in Nicaragua. They use slash and burn farming practices there and the deforestation is a tragedy.