The Earth Is Blue... How Wonderful. It

Rays Were Blazing Through The Atmosphere Of The Earth, The Horizon Became Bright Orange, Gradually Passing Into All The Colors Of The Rainbow: From Light Blue To Dark Blue, To Violet And Then To Black. What An Indescribable Gamut Of Colors! Just Like The Paintings Of The Artist Nicholas Roerich.

To Be The First To Enter The Cosmos, To Engage, Single-handed, In An Unprecedented Duel With Nature-could One Dream Of Anything More?

When They Saw Me In My Space Suit And The Parachute Dragging Alongside As I Walked, They Started To Back Away In Fear. I Told Them, Don’t Be Afraid, I Am A Soviet Like You, Who Has Descended From Space And I Must Find A Telephone To Call Moscow!

What Beauty. I Saw Clouds And Their Light Shadows On The Distant Dear Earth.... The Water Looked Like Darkish, Slightly Gleaming Spots.... When I Watched The Horizon, I Saw The Abrupt, Contrasting Transition From The Earth's Light-colored Surface To The Absolutely Black Sky. I Enjoyed The Rich Color Spectrum Of The Earth. It Is Surrounded By A Light Blue Aureole That Gradually Darkens, Becoming Turquiose, Dark Blue, Violet, And Finally Coal Black.

When I Orbited The Earth In A Spaceship, I Saw For The First Time How Beautiful Our Planet Is. Mankind, Let Us Preserve And Increase This Beauty, And Not Destroy It!