An astronaut who spent 178 days in space has revealed the realization he came to after seeing Earth.

To see Earth from space is to be forever changed by the view. Since Alan Shepard became the first American to lay eyes on our home planet from above, countless NASA astronauts have described feeling ...

This story was originally published in the May 15, 2003, issue of Rolling Stone. Read more from that issue and the 2026 American Icons package here. I cons are hard to erase or replace. They’re ...