: The overview effect almost sounds like a medical diagnosis. NASA Astronauts Christina Koch, Anne McClain and Nick Hague onboard the International Space Station during an interview with Frank White. Astronauts understand that there is this other aspect to spaceflight, which are the feelings and the emotional response. At that time, perhaps they were a little bit more focused on the science and technology side of a mission.Īlso, possibly because the overview effect has become a well-know concept. More emotion you might say than earlier active astronauts. I have noticed that the active astronauts were perhaps a little bit more effusive in the way they characterize the experience. Three were actually on the International Space Station at the time of the interview. I interviewed 10 astronauts there, some retired, some active. White: I had a return trip to Houston in 2019. : From that point in time, you continued carrying out more interviews? I just don't believe the book would have had the impact it has had without the title being 'The Overview Effect.' They said, obviously, the title is 'The Overview Effect.' And I said, wonderful. He later came back to me, a couple weeks or a month later, advising me that the marketing people had actually read the book. I told him one term that I used a lot is 'citizens of the universe' and he moved that forward. I was so grateful they were publishing the book, I would have done anything. But he came back later on and said the marketing people say we can't call it 'The Overview Effect,' nobody will know what that means. He said it was the first justification for spaceflight that was convincing to him. It was my first book and was titled 'The Overview Effect.' The acquisition editor really understood the book. : What were the first reactions to the book? By then I had 16 interviews with astronauts and data for my hypothesis that something is happening out there.Ĭover of the Fourth edition of Frank White's 'The Overview Effect.' (Image credit: Multiverse Publishing (2021)) I was fortunate to get a contract with Houghton Mifflin to write the book. The first real explanation of the term was in the first edition of the Overview Effect that came out in 1987. White: The actual first use of the term publicly was in my poster in 1985 at a poster session of a Space Studies Institute meeting. : In locking in the term overview effect, what took place then? I confirmed the hypothesis that there would be something unique about seeing the Earth from a distance.

They also suggested interviewing retired astronauts, something I had never thought of. They didn't think that was possible, but they promised two astronauts if I would come to Houston. White: I talked to NASA and asked them if I could interview all the astronauts. : And you were motivated to talk to NASA astronauts at that point? Frank White, author of The Overview Effect, an influential book on the human condition when viewing the Earth from afar.