Religious context during spaceflights
Astronauts
and other
spaceflight participants
have observed their religions while in space; sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. Religious adherence in outer space poses unique challenges and opportunities for practitioners. Space travelers have reported profound changes in the way they view their faith related to the
overview effect
,
[1]
while some secular groups have criticized the use of government spacecraft for religious activities by astronauts.
[2]
Christianity
[
edit
]
Apollo 8 Genesis Reading
[
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]
On Christmas Eve, 1968 astronauts
Bill Anders
,
Jim Lovell
, and
Frank Borman
read from the
Book of Genesis
as
Apollo 8
orbited the Moon.
[3]
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
,
[4]
but the case was dismissed. On August 2, 1971,
Apollo 15
Mission Commander
David Scott
left a Bible on the
Lunar rover
during an
Extravehicular activity
.
Protestantism
[
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]
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.
[5]
A microfilm
Bible
that had been to the surface of the Moon was auctioned off in 2011.
[6]
It was a
King James Version
created after three astronauts lost their lives in the
Apollo 1
fire.
[6]
Ed White
, one of the astronauts who perished, had wanted to take a Bible to the Moon.
[6]
On
STS-128
astronaut
Patrick Forrester
brought a fragment of an
Missionary Aviation Fellowship
aircraft which crashed in Ecuador in 1956.
[7]
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 in
Guidepost Magazine
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
(Audiobook)
. 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 near NASA.
Catholicism
[
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]
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.
[8]
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.
[9]
[10]
[11]
The
Blessed Sacrament
(the body and blood of Christ in the form of consecrated sacramental bread and wine) has been carried into space at least twice. Three
Catholic
astronauts on Space Shuttle mission
STS-59
received
Holy Communion
on 17 April 1994.
[12]
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.
[13]
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.
[14]
Russian Orthodox
[
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]
Russian Orthodox Christmas was celebrated on the
International Space Station
, on January 7, 2011.
[15]
Cosmonauts had the day off, but one of the other crew posted on
Twitter
, "Merry Christmas to all Russia."
[15]
The whole crew also celebrated on December 25, two weeks prior.
[15]
Cosmonauts sometimes at the request of Russian Orthodox church carry religious icons to space, which upon return to Earth are distributed to churches.
[16]
Islam
[
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]
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
.
[17]
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 when praying (left to the astronaut's best abilities at the start of prayer), and washing (a wet towel will suffice).
[18]
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
.
[19]
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."
[20]
Judaism
[
edit
]
Time and date-related observances are important in Judaism, and there have been considerations on the
observance of time by Jewish astronauts
.
[21]
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.
[22]
[23]
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
.
[14]
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.
[24]
Hinduism
[
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]
In December 2006, American astronaut
Sunita Williams
took a copy of the
Bhagavad Gita
to the
International Space Station
. In July 2012, she took there an
Om
symbol and a copy of the
Upanishads
.
[25]
On 27 February 2021, SDSAT a 3U cubesat launched aboard
PSLV-C51
carried a digital copy of
Bhagavad Gita
into
space
in an
SD card
.
[26]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
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. 6 September 2015.
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- ^
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ISBN
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- ^
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- ^
a
b
c
Menzie, Nicola (2011).
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.
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Archived
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. Retrieved
2011-12-26
.
- ^
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Archived
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- ^
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2016-06-28
.
- ^
"Did Apollo 11 mission make Orlando's founding bishop the bishop of moon?"
.
Crux
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Archived
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
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. 2018-08-03.
Archived
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- ^
"When Astronauts Received Holy Communion in Space"
. National Catholic Register. February 21, 2017.
Archived
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2019-08-12
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- ^
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"For Catholic astronauts, flying to space doesn't mean giving up the faith"
. Catholic News Service. Archived from
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- ^
a
b
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.
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Archived
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- ^
a
b
c
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.
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Archived
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2021-03-19
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link
)
- ^
"The artworks flown to outer space"
.
Apollo Magazine
. 2021-10-21.
Archived
from the original on 2021-12-21
. Retrieved
2021-12-21
.
The cosmonaut tradition, meanwhile, is to take religious icons depicting saints or the holy family on to space stations. As recent research which we conducted in collaboration with the icon scholar Wendy Salmond shows, this is sometimes at the request of the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church. The returned icons are not sold but distributed to churches.
- ^
Gartner, Bettina (October 10, 2007).
"How does an Islamic astronaut face Mecca in orbit?"
. Christian Science Monitor.
Archived
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. Retrieved
2009-09-03
.
- ^
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.
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Archived
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. Retrieved
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.
- ^
"Ulama Arab Saudi Mengeluarkan Fatwa Melarang Muslim ke Mars"
.
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Archived
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.
- ^
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. The A Register. February 22, 2014.
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.
- ^
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. CNN.
Archived
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- ^
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- ^
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- ^
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.
External links
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]