Religion In Space

Astronauts and other spaceflight participants have observed their religions while in space; sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. Religious adherence in outer space may pose unique challenges and opportunities for practitioners. Space travelers have reported profound changes in the way they view their faith related to the overview effect, while some secular groups have criticized the use of government spacecraft for religious activities by astronauts.

Christianity

Apollo 8 Genesis Reading

On Christmas Eve, 1968 astronauts Bill Anders, Jim Lovell, and Frank Borman read from the Book of Genesis as Apollo 8 orbited the Moon. A lawsuit by American Atheists founder Madalyn Murray O'Hair alleged that the observance amounted to a government endorsement of religion in violation of the First Amendment, but the case was dismissed.

Protestantism

Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, a Presbyterian, performed a communion service for himself using a kit provided by his church. Aldrin had told flight director Chris Kraft of his plans and intended to broadcast the service back to Earth but opted not to at the request of Deke Slayton, due to the continuing controversy over Apollo 8's reading.

A microfilm Bible brought to the surface of the Moon by Apollo 14 astronaut Ed Mitchell was auctioned off in 2011. It was a King James Version created after three astronauts lost their lives in the Apollo 1 fire. Ed White, one of the astronauts who perished, had wanted to take a Bible to the Moon.

On the 2009 STS-128 flight to the International Space Station, astronaut Patrick Forrester brought a fragment of a Missionary Aviation Fellowship aircraft which had been used by the Operation Auca martyrs in Ecuador in 1956.

Several members of the crew of the Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' tragedy mission STS-51-L were people of faith. Among them were Commander Dick Scobee and Pilot Michael J. Smith. Scobee was a Baptist who met his wife June at a church social event. After the tragedy, she would go on to write an article i
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about how their faith helped her through the tragic time. Smith and his family attended a non-denominational Christian church in a community close to their home near Houston's NASA JSC Space Center.

Rick Husband, the Commander of the ill-fated STS-107 ''Columbia'' tragedy mission, was also a devout Christian. On the last-request forms that astronauts fill out before every flight, he left his pastor a personal note: "Tell them about Jesus; he's real to me." Later his wife Evelyn wrote a book about their life with him as an astronaut and the importance of their Christian faith entitled ''High Calling: The Courageous Life and Faith of Space Shuttle Columbia Commander Rick Husband''. Likewise, his STS-107 crewmate Michael P. Anderson was also a devout Christian and when not on a mission for NASA, was an active member of the Grace Community Church choir.

Catholicism

A signed message from Pope Paul VI was included among statements from dozens of other world leaders left on the Moon on a silicon disk during the Apollo 11 mission. Following the mission, William Donald Borders, Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orlando, told the Pope that the 1917 Code of Canon Law placed the Moon within his diocese, as the first explorers had departed from Cape Kennedy which was under his jurisdiction. The claim was neither confirmed nor denied by the Pope, and the Moon is not recognized as part of the diocese in any official capacity.

Following Buzz Aldrin's communion on the Moon, other astronauts have done the same in Earth orbit. Three Catholic astronauts on Space Shuttle mission STS-59 received Holy Communion on 17 April 1994. NASA astronaut Michael S. Hopkins took a supply of six consecrated hosts to the International Space Station in September 2013, allowing him to receive the Eucharist weekly during his 24-week mission.

In May 2011, Pope Benedict XVI of the Catholic Church talked to the crew of the Space Shuttle ''Endeavour'' while it was in Earth orbit.

Russian Orthodox

In Russia, spaceflight crews are blessed by Russian Orthodox priests before launch, and their Soyuz rockets are also blessed on the launch pad. Cosmonaut Aleksandr Viktorenko initiated the crew blessing tradition when he requested one for the launch of Soyuz TM-20 in 1994.

Russian Orthodox Christmas was celebrated on the International Space Station, on January 7, 2011. Cosmonauts had the day off, but one of the other crew posted on Twitter, "Merry Christmas to all Russia." The whole crew also celebrated on December 25, two weeks prior.

Cosmonauts sometimes at the request of Russian Orthodox church carry religious icons to space, which upon return to Earth are distributed to churches.

Islam

Muslims in space struggle with fulfilling their religious obligations including kneeling and facing Mecca to pray in microgravity traveling at several kilometres per second. The issue first came up when Sultan bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, a Saudi prince, flew aboard STS-51-G and again when Anousheh Ansari flew as a tourist to the International Space Station. In preparation for Malaysian Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor's trip to the ISS in 2007, the National Fatwa Council created "Muslim Obligations in the International Space Station" outlining permissible modifications to rituals such as kneeling when praying (not required in space), facing Mecca (or just Earth) when praying (left to the astronaut's best abilities at the start of prayer), and washing (a wet towel will suffice).

In February 2014, the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowment (GAIAE) from Saudi Arabia issued a fatwa forbidding devout Muslims from participating as crew members in Mars One's proposed one-way mission to Mars. Speaking for the clerical group, Farooq Hamada explained that, "Protecting life against all possible dangers and keeping it safe is an issue agreed upon by all religions and is clearly stipulated in verse 4/29 of the Holy Quran: Do not kill yourselves or one another. Indeed, Allah is to you ever Merciful."

Judaism

Time and date-related observances are important in Judaism, and there have been considerations on the observance of time by Jewish astronauts.

American astronaut Jeffrey Hoffman took multiple Jewish objects to space on his space flights from 1985 to 1996: a miniature Torah scroll, a yad, a Torah breastplate, mezuzot, menorahs, a dreidel, hand-woven tallit, and kiddush cups.

In January 2003, a microfilm Torah, a handwritten copy of the Shabbat kiddush, and a miniature Torah scroll rescued from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp were taken to space by Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon aboard the Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. Ramon and the rest of the crew died when the shuttle disintegrated during reentry. In September 2006, Canadian astronaut Steve MacLean took another Torah from Bergen-Belsen aboard the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' to the International Space Station as a tribute to Ramon.

Hinduism

In December 2006, American astronaut Sunita Williams took a copy of the Bhagavad Gita aboard the International Space Station. In July 2012, she took an Om symbol and a copy of the Upanishads.

On 27 February 2021, PSLV-C51 carried a digital copy of the Bhagavad Gita into space on an SD card.

Buddhism

The first Buddhist to go into space was Ellison Onizuka flying to space aboard STS-51-C. Not only was he the first Buddhist but also the first Asian-American, person of Japanese descent and Hawaiian to go to space. He later died during the Challenger Disaster in 1986.

See also

*Astronomy and religion
*Astrotheology
* Religion in Antarctica

References

External links

Performing Ibadah at the International Space Station





Christmas in Space (DLR, 2011)

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