You don't have to go to the moon to see Earth differently: Artemis II astronaut Victor Glover on what really matters

Imagine floating 250 million miles from home, watching Earth vanish behind the moon’s horizon. For Victor Glover, the first astronaut to do that on Artemis II, the loss of sight was not a visual marvel but a doorway to a deeper feeling. On April 1 2026, Glover, along with Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch and Canadian Jeremy Hansen, became the first crew to orbit the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972.

As Orion crossed the far side, Earth disappeared for 40 minutes before reappearing at 6:39 p.m. ET, a moment captured in a single frame that showed the planet and the moon side‑by‑side. The crew were 651 people who had ever walked on the lunar surface, and for the first time, they were separated from the rest of humanity by hundreds of thousands of miles.

Glover said the experience was less about the view and more about the ache that grew the farther he drifted from Earth. “The greatest reason to go to space isn’t to be a swashbuckler hero,” he told former astronaut Chris Hadfield at Starmus VIII. “It’s to do something that only 651 people have been able to do: miss Earth and miss other Earthlings.” He recalled rushing through traffic, feeling selfish, and then remembering how small and fragile the world looked from orbit.

“I wish you could all feel what it’s like to come back home after that disconnection,” he added.

From that moment, Glover coined the “sea‑level effect”: the idea that the wonder astronauts feel can be found right here on Earth if we look closer.

He urged people to examine a leaf, watch the ocean, or simply notice how sunlight turns into food through photosynthesis.

“Familiarity breeds indifference,” he warned.

“We have to choose to be moved by these things.” By rediscovering the extraordinary in the ordinary, he believes we can rekindle the same sense of connection that space gave him.

The takeaway?

Space shows us how small we are, but it also reminds us how connected we all are.

If we can bring that perspective back to our daily lives—by pausing to marvel at a leaf or a sunset—we might finally feel the same longing for humanity that Glover felt 250 million miles away.