The Overview Effect is a cognitive shift in awareness reported by some astronauts and cosmonauts during spaceflight, often by viewing the Earth from orbit or from the lunar surface. It refers to the experience of seeing first hand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us national and religious boundaries vanish, other conflicts that divide us become less important and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect The Pale Blue Dot (Carl Sagan) becomes obvious and imperative. Edgar Mitchell (Apollo 14) said In outer space, you develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of million miles out and say Look at that, you son of a bitch! There is an effort by SpaceBuzz to bring the overview effect to the classroom thru virtual reality by allowing us to see what the astronauts/cosmonauts see while in orbit. You are 1 person out of 8 billion people on 1 planet out of 8 planets in 1 star system out of 100 billion star systems in 1 galaxy out of 100 billion galaxies and you are ENORMOUSLY insignificant.