A version of this article also appeared in the It’s Not Just You newsletter. Sign up here to get a new essay from Susanna Schrobsdorff every weekend. “I was moved to tears by what I saw, and I come back filled with, overwhelmed by sadness and empathy for this beautiful thing we call Earth.” —Actor William Shatner upon returning safely home from his brief trip into space aboard a Blue Origin rocket on October 13th. When William Shatner, the man who played the legendary Captain James T.