Earth | Return To

: Alien or human voyagers return after 500,000 years to find that Earth’s "primitive" inhabitants have advanced beyond expectations .

: Stories often focus on humanity returning to avenge Earth's destruction or the theological restoration of a renewed planet. 2. The Astronaut's Reality: The Weight of Home Return to Earth

The concept also appears in literature and everyday language: : Alien or human voyagers return after 500,000

: To "come back down to earth" is an idiom for dealing with reality after a period of excitement or dreaming. The Astronaut's Reality: The Weight of Home The

: Jim Harrison’s novel Returning to Earth uses the phrase as a metaphor for facing mortality and family history within a Native American cultural context.

: Some develop a "long stare," finding it difficult to relate to earthly life after witnessing the planet's fragile beauty from above. 3. Literary and Figurative Returns