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Video by Airman 1st Class Francesca Skridulis

Earth Day, Viewed from Space

102nd Intelligence Wing

April 21, 2022 | 3:53

On the 50th anniversary of NASA’s Apollo program to reach the Moon, Apollo 9 astronaut Russell “Rusty” L. Schweickart spoke about his extraterrestrial experience and humanity’s relationship with machines, and our responsibility to take care of the Earth that has enabled our very existence.

Schweickart flew the F-86H Sabre during the early 1960’s while assigned to the 101st Tactical Fighter Squadron. Following his service with the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Schweickart joined NASA as one of 14 astronauts named in October 1963. He served as lunar module pilot for Apollo 9 from March 3-13, 1969, logging 241 hours in space.

This was the third manned flight of the Apollo program and the first manned flight of the lunar module. During a 46 minute spacewalk, Schweickart tested the new Apollo space suit and portable life support backpack which were subsequently used on lunar surface explorations.

One year after the Apollo 9 Mission ended, Earth Day was first established in the United States. In 1990, Earth Day went global, and has since become recognized in more than 190 countries. Each year, more than one billion people around the world observe the occasion by taking action in their local communities, caring for the natural resources where they live and work, and calling for widespread change and responsibility in policy and human behavior to #investinourplanet

Senator Gaylord Nelson was credited as the founder of Earth Day, and later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution. Nelson organized and popularized Earth Day as a teach-in about the deterioration of the environment on college campuses. The event was promoted on national media, and on April 22nd, 20 million Americans from coast to coast took to their streets, parks, community centers, and campuses to try to make a change. This first Earth Day led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Environmental Education Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Clean Air Act. In the years following, the Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act were passed into law as well.

Since that first glimpse of our beautiful Earth from space, and that first Earth Day in 1970, billions of individuals around the world have contributed to changes such as reducing pollution, implementing the use of renewable resources and protecting species from extinction.

“And we now, with the power that we have,” says Schweickart. “Our cells, our brains, the machines that we create are responsible for the continued evolution of life out of Mother Earth. That's what Apollo was all about.”