It has been a very tough holiday for everyone. In fact, it’s been a tough few years, overall. But seeing Earth from outer space tends to put all of our problems in perspective..
With this in mind, You can start the first week of the year 2022 with this amazing time lapse video of the Earth taken by the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa, which he did while visiting the International Space Station as a tourist. The video constitutes exactly one orbit around the Earth, a view Maezawa describes as “Awesome“It is even on video:
The video, 24 seconds long, shows the Earth spinning at a rate that can cause vertigo, with the solar panels of the International Space Station rotating in the foreground. It is a sobering vision of our little planet; a reminder that the issues we discuss on Twitter and elsewhere are relatively insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe.
Maezawa’s trip to space puts him at the forefront of the space tourism trend, which will only grow in 2022. Even now, Blue Origin is working on its own private space station, and Maezawa hopes to take a trip around the moon on a future SpaceX flight.
Space tourism is a thorny issue for many reasons, but for now we can at least enjoy this glorious sight and reflect on what the year 2022 could bring to humanity. Hopefully better times for everyone.
