Interesting Cosmos Fact #2: The ISS Has No View of the Cosmos

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Why Does the ISS Observatory Look Down — and Not Into Space?

And What That Says About Humanity

From the very beginning, humanity has been driven by a powerful force: the desire to know what lies beyond.

Sailors climbed to the mast to glimpse over the horizon.

The first expeditions to Antarctica died just to see what lay across the ice.

People climbed Everest not for minerals, but for the view from the summit.

And now, in the 21st century, we’ve gone to space.
We have the International Space Station — the most advanced and expensive human outpost in orbit.
And what do we do?

The only full-scale observatory aboard the ISS is pointed… at Earth.

The Paradox

The ISS orbits at 400 km above the planet. Beyond it lies:

near-perfect vacuum,

minimal light pollution,

access to ultraviolet and X-ray spectra,

zero weather interference,

unobstructed views of galaxies, nebulae, background radiation…

It’s an astronomer’s dream.

And yet the instruments are pointed… down.

But Why?

The official explanation goes like this:

“The ISS is a platform for Earth observation. We monitor climate change, forests, wildfires, ice sheets, urban growth, and light pollution. This is crucial.”

And yes — it is important.

But here’s the question:
Why, after more than 20 years in orbit, has no one built a permanent, human-operated observatory aimed into space?

Where is the telescope that lets humanity see the cosmos live from orbit?
Why isn’t there a single porthole or viewing deck on the ISS designed for stargazing?

“Humans Need to See Earth”?

A commonly repeated excuse:

“Astronauts need to see Earth. It helps with isolation, gives them a sense of home.”

That sounds… strangely limiting.
As if we’re somehow afraid to look outward.
As if, for the first time in history, humanity has stepped into the infinite —
and immediately looked away.

What Does This Say About Us?

Something in us has shifted.

We’ve begun to look down, not forward.

We study Earth — from a vantage point where we could be studying the Universe.

Maybe it’s temporary.
Maybe we’re just “not ready yet.”
But it’s strange to realize that the first people in space dreamed of this.
And decades later, we still haven’t dared to install a telescope that looks not at our blue marble, but into the unknown.

Have We Forgotten How to Dream?

Yes, we have the Hubble, the James Webb, and incredible ground-based observatories.
But a human being, looking into space from orbit — that has yet to happen.

We can send people to the Moon, build cube satellites the size of a shoebox, and run quantum experiments on the ISS —
but we still haven’t installed a window into the infinite right where it makes the most sense.

Maybe it’s time.

Видео Interesting Cosmos Fact #2: The ISS Has No View of the Cosmos канала Sergey Morozov