Planet Ocean Foundation

One Ocean Planet.
Our Lifeboat in Space.

Exploring and protecting the oceans of SpaceShipEarth, from first dive to last voyage.

Earthset from Orion — Image: NASA / Artemis II (art002e009288)

Our mission

Mission

Planet Ocean explores and protects the oceans of SpaceShipEarth. We connect people to the sea, advance ocean science, restore marine life, and make sure no boat is left to become the ocean's burden.

Our vision

A world where every person sees Earth as one ocean planet, our lifeboat in space, and every vessel on it is cared for from launch to last voyage.

What we do

Four pillars, one ocean

Explore

Seen from space, our planet is mostly ocean, and most of that ocean is still unexplored. We get people on, in and under the water, from first snorkels to citizen science expeditions, so the sea becomes something they know and love.

Expeditions and first dives
Citizen science on whale and dolphin trips
Satellites and space tech to study the sea

Protect

We stand up for healthy coastlines, clean water and thriving marine life. We back the science that shows what's changing and the restoration work that brings reefs, kelp forests and wildlife back.

Habitat restoration and cleanups
Marine protected areas
Starting in Southern California

Inspire

The Overview Effect changes astronauts who see Earth from orbit. We want to bring that same shift down to sea level through stories, film, art and time on the water, so every person sees one connected ocean planet.

Youth ocean education
Storytelling and film
Media from orbit to seafloor

Steward The Windance Program

Every boat deserves a plan for its last voyage. Windance takes donated vessels and restores, rehomes or repurposes them, and when a boat's sailing days are truly over, we make sure it's disposed of responsibly, not left to become the ocean's burden.

Restore
Rehome with caring owners
Repurpose
Responsibly recycle at end of life

Seen from Orion

Artemis II, looking home

In April 2026, the Artemis II crew looked back at a world that is mostly ocean.

Half-lit Earth with white swirling storm clouds over the deep blue Pacific Ocean, the night side fading into darkness — **Return to Earth**Swirling white clouds over the blue Pacific, captured a few hours before the crew returned to Earth.NASA / Artemis II (art002e042281)

The curved limb of Earth with long bands of white cloud over blue ocean beneath the black of space — **Oasis in the Void**Taken by an Artemis II astronaut through one of Orion’s four windows on April 2, 2026.NASA / Artemis II (art002e023575)

The underside of Earth’s globe, blue ocean and bright clouds edged by a thin blue atmosphere against black space — **Sphere of Solace**Another view of home from an Orion window that same day, April 2, 2026.NASA / Artemis II (art002e023175)

Our founding story

Windance

She was one of a kind: a beamy, gaff-rigged schooner of cedar and teak, built in Torrance in the 1970s, with crimson sails and a bowsprit that made her look like a ship among boats. She crossed the Pacific and back, then spent some 25 years on her mooring in Newport Harbor, near the Balboa Island ferry.

Brian was her steward for three years. He climbed her crow's nest for views of Catalina, sailed her to Avalon, and had dolphins ride her bow off Newport at the start of a new decade.

Years of neglect followed under later owners. With no affordable path to repair, insure, or retire her, Windance sank offshore near Crystal Cove in 2026.

Planet Ocean exists so no boat meets that fate.

Give a boat its next voyage

Brian aloft in Windance's rigging, flags flying, with Newport Harbor below — Aloft on Windance, Newport Harbor

Looking straight down from Windance's crow's nest to her deck and red-wrapped boom — First ascent of the crow's nest

Windance today

A new life below the surface

In her final days afloat off Newport Beach, Windance gave shelter to two giant ocean sunfish (mola mola).

Underwater view of Windance's sunken hull and a mast angling through blue-green water, with a large ocean sunfish swimming in front of her — Hull and masts, with a sunfish alongside

Two ocean sunfish drifting in deep blue water beneath Windance's pale, sunlit hull — Two sunfish sheltering beneath her hull

Close view of a mottled grey ocean sunfish beside the sunken wooden hull of Windance — A mola mola up close by the hull

Sunken ships create hiding places for creatures of the deep.

Video stills courtesy of Erica Page (@planetwhale), filmed aboard Newport Coastal Adventure with Captain @green_buoy.tv. Watch the original reel on Instagram

Life on the water