Is the best place to think about life on earth, not even on earth? 

For astronaut Ron Garan, it might just have been. Garan, an American who spent six months on board the International Space Station in 2011, says that his time living in space changed his life.

The International Space Station orbits 400km (260 miles) above the earth, and the views are pretty darn good. "Seeing Earth from this vantage point gave me a unique perspective — something I've come to call the orbital perspective," Garan wrote in his recently released book. "Part of this is the realization that we are all traveling together on the planet and that if we all looked at the world from that perspective we would see that nothing is impossible."

Garan originally studied business economics at university, and changed direction to study aeronautics and become an F-16 combat pilot in the United States Air Force. From there, NASA picked him up, and started training him to fly things that could go a whole lot further into the air, and give him an even better view.

In a recent interview on America’s Forum, Garan talked about his third spacewalk, explaining that he "took the opportunity ... to turn my lights off on my helmet, and when I did that — I was rising up into this utter blackness, this indescribable darkness and blackness — but when I turned my lights off, and I had a chance for my eyes to adjust, all of a sudden I could see infinity”

"But on the way back, it was on a daytime side of the orbit, and now at the top of this arc I was 100 feet above the space station looking down at this amazing accomplishment of humanity against the backdrop of our just indescribably beautiful planet," Garan said. 

"What really struck me in that moment was the international cooperation that built the International Space Station," he said. "When you look at the difference between the beauty of our planet and the unfortunate realities of life on our planet, it makes you wonder.

"If we could do that in space — 15 nations, several of which were not always the best of friends, some of which were on the opposite sides of the Cold War, opposite sides of the space race — if they could do that in space, imagine what we could do by working together to solve the problems facing our planet." 

Since coming back to earth, Garan’s purpose in life has changed. Through his book, the talks he gives, and his decision to start a foundation to assist Rwandan villages to produce clean water, Garan’s out-of-this-world experience has made him determined to do what he can do make life better for people in this world. 

As a global citizen, I see things the same way. Through determination and big picture thinking, I know that we can confront and overcome challenges like polio, malnutrition, illiteracy, and preventable deaths. I’ll never get the chance to go into space to look at the world, but there’s plenty to be done while we’re down here. 

In 2015, the world's nations are getting together to set goals for poverty eradication and human development over the next 15 years, and they'll also be sitting down to agree to targets to minimise climate change. This is the sort of stuff that Ron Garan wishes happened more often, and we can't let the opportunity slide. In the coming months on Global Citizen, we'll be giving you ways to take action, put pressure on world leaders, and make your voice heard. It's exciting!