I have become fascinated with watching the live feed from the International Space Station. Get it here: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/09/watch-stunning-live-nasa-feed-of-earth-from-space/
At first, gazing at the majestically rolling view gave me what I thought of as a godlike perspective. At the equator the Earth rotates at a velocity of 1070 miles per hour. The ISS flies at about 17,000 miles per hour. Its orbital path takes it north and south but always in an easterly direction. That is, it overtakes the earth's spin. It takes only ninety minutes to make an orbit. On a good day I can drive to Clare, Michigan in ninety minutes. I have no particular need to see Clare, Michigan. I do, however love to watch the passing view from the ISS. It seems very much like a miracle.
I have seen the Nile snaking from central Africa through the yellow desert to its deeply green delta--all in one glance. I have seen tightly-wound storms. I have watched dusk fall across India. I have made out Grand Traverse Bay with all five Great Lakes in view at once.
You probably know that water covers over 70% of Earth's surface. Watching the ISS camera feed confirms this. Blue dominates. But it may take you a while to realize that in the forward- and backward-looking views the tiniest sliver of a crescent along the curvature of our globe is not blue water, but blue atmosphere. We live in a thin--you might even say gaunt--envelope of air. Perhaps we do not have quite the stable, secure environment in which we would like to believe.
As a kid I occasionally had dreams in which I could fly. As I remember them, I could start walking and then somehow just start soaring slowly over our neighborhood. Watching the ISS feed feels like those dreams on steroids. Yet the perspective it offers ends up making me feel not godlike, but humble. I have yet to make out a single man-made structure (beside the arms of the ISS that appear in some of the images). And above that curve of the globe sits the utter darkness of space.
Gaining a little perspective every now and then is a good thing. I need to get cut down to size from time to time. Yet though I cannot stop watching the Earth pass beneath me as I vicariously ride the International Space Station, the experience unsettles me. I guess I need God, not to feel godlike, after all.
