Overview effect: what does the Earth look like from space? Does an ant understand, looking at its home, that one careless movement - of a person, of nature, of a stone - and it will be gone? Does a person understand that an asteroid even one kilometer in diameter will wipe out his city from the face of the Earth? Does humanity understand, when going into space, that the Earth is a fragile inhabited ball, “hanging in the void” and protected only by a thin layer of space? From space, as cosmonauts say, borders between states are not visible, any conflicts seem insignificant, and the vulnerability of the Earth comes to the fore. In February 1971, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell experienced a little-understood phenomenon sometimes called the Overview Effect. According to him, he was overcome by a sense of understanding of the universe. Without warning, as the astronaut notes, he experienced a feeling of bliss, timelessness, as if a strong connection with space had appeared. Instantly and deeply, the astronaut became aware of each atom in isolation from matter, and looking out the window, he saw other atoms of the Universe. Absolute expansion of consciousness. The most interesting thing is that he is not the first and not the last of the astronauts who subscribe to the “overview effect” in space. What happens to the brain in a state of weightlessness? Rusty Schweikart experienced this feeling on March 6, 1969, during his spacewalk from Apollo 9: “When you orbit the Earth for an hour and a half, you begin to feel an absolute connection with the planet. This change... it moves you so much that you become a bundle of sensations.” Schweickart experienced much the same thing as Mitchell, describing the intuitive understanding that everything in the world is interconnected more strongly and deeply than it really is. The astronauts' experience, accompanied by dozens of other similar experiments from other astronauts, has seriously interested scientists studying the brain. The "insight effect," or the acute awareness of matter as a synergistically related substance, is suggestive of the religious experience described by Buddhist monks, for example. Where does it come from and why? This phenomenon has received enough confirmation to be studied in more detail. Andy Newberg, a neurologist and physician with a background in space medicine, carefully monitors everyone who survives space travel. He says there is a certain difference between those people who have been in open space and those who have not, and wants to understand this. Newberg specializes in searching for neurological markers of the brain in states of altered consciousness. This can include monks during prayer, transcendental mediums and others associated with transcendental psychology, representatives of various faiths. Newberg has figured out which regions of gray matter are associated with these effects, and now plans to use his experience to study the “overview effect.” Advanced brain-scanning instruments will be sent into orbit to record the state of consciousness of space travelers. If the epiphany effect is truly a physiological phenomenon, it would be worth studying. Newberg's first test subject will not be an astronaut, but an ordinary civilian. Rita Andersen will leave the planet with the Kistler rocket plane. She says that, as one of the first conventional space explorers, she would be happy to help Andy scan her brain to shed light on the mystery. Why do astronauts experience an altered state of consciousness when they go into space, and will Rita or other civilian astronauts experience it? After decades of researching his own insight, Ed Mitchell firmly believed that his “oneness” with the Universe was direct evidence of how little we know about quantum physics. Quantum mechanics is more paradoxical than understandable, and we know this very well. Several years ago, in an interview with writer Diane de Regnier (American Chronicle), Mitchell explained how the experience changed his life and his view of the world and how each of us fits in yt3.ggpht