Religion and Space
After the Eagle landed on the Moon, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin asked for a moment of silence. He brought a small chalice, a wafer and packet of communion wine out of his Personal Preference Kit and marked the occasion by quietly taking communion. The chalice he used is on display at Webster Presbyterian Church, also known as the "Church of the Astronauts," in Houston.
In 1996 astronaut Jeff Hoffman took a Torah with him into outer space. Hoffman was a Mission Specialist on STS-75 (Columbia) and had worked with his rabbi, Shaul Osadchey, to bring this plan into fruition. Osadchey (whom I interviewed in 2015 - he gave me permission to use his name) told me the story of the tiny Torah:
"The most sacred object you could take would be a Torah. So we talked about that and for his last flight in ’96, he arranged to do that. So I actually, investigated finding the small Torah, because, again, it couldn’t be a regular-sized Torah.And I found through a scribe that I had a relationship with in New York a Torah that was 7 inches wide. It actually quite readable even though the font was probably like an 8 or 9. But it was very legible, because we wanted to use it afterwards, which we have. It has been used by bar mitzvah kids and for special occasions. The connection to bar mitzvah kids is sort of a message about the Jewish future. It's a scroll. It's written on parchment just like all kosher Torahs are. It’s written by a scribe. It follows the same rules of using special ink and all the other customs about how it’s written with a quill and so forth. It's the whole first five books of Moses of the Bible."
"The most sacred object you could take would be a Torah. So we talked about that and for his last flight in ’96, he arranged to do that. So I actually, investigated finding the small Torah, because, again, it couldn’t be a regular-sized Torah.And I found through a scribe that I had a relationship with in New York a Torah that was 7 inches wide. It actually quite readable even though the font was probably like an 8 or 9. But it was very legible, because we wanted to use it afterwards, which we have. It has been used by bar mitzvah kids and for special occasions. The connection to bar mitzvah kids is sort of a message about the Jewish future. It's a scroll. It's written on parchment just like all kosher Torahs are. It’s written by a scribe. It follows the same rules of using special ink and all the other customs about how it’s written with a quill and so forth. It's the whole first five books of Moses of the Bible."
Dr. Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, from Malaysia, went up to the International Space Station as a spaceflight participant on Soyuz TMA-11 in 2007. Because his mission took place during the holy month of Ramadan, the Islamic National Fatwa Council convened to offer direction, which resulted in the pblication of "Guidelines for Performing Islamic Rites (Ibadah) at the International Space Station." The Council determined that because fasting is optional while traveling, it was up to Sheikh Muszaphar to determine how and when to fast, if he chose to do so.
In this video, Sheikh Muszaphar demonstrates how he performs the prayer towards Mecca (Salat) while in microgravity.
In this video, Sheikh Muszaphar demonstrates how he performs the prayer towards Mecca (Salat) while in microgravity.
For Further Reading:
Ambrosius, Joshua D. "Separation of church and space: Religious influences on public support for US space exploration policy." Space Policy 32 (2015): 17-31.
Barasch, Marc, and Ksenia Fedorova. "Mission to Earth: Planetary proprioception and the cyber-sublime." The Projected and Prophetic: Humanity in cyberculture, cyberspace, and science fiction (2011): 89-98.
Dutch, Robert S. "Space: Exploration, Environments and Earth." Genesis 1: 1-10.
Harrison, Albert A. "Astrotheology and spaceflight: Prophecy, transcendence and salvation on the high frontier." Theology and Science 12, no. 1 (2014): 30-48.
Helmreich, Stefan. "Foreword: A wrinkle in space." Environmental Humanities 9, no. 2 (2017): 300-308.
Launius, Roger D. "Escaping Earth: human spaceflight as religion." Astropolitics 11, no. 1-2 (2013): 45-64.
Levinson, Paul, and Michael Waltemathe, eds. Touching the face of the cosmos: On the intersection of space travel and religion. Connected Editions, 2016.
Lewis, Cathleen S. "Muslims in Space: Observing Religious Rites in a New Environment." Astropolitics 11, no. 1-2 (2013): 108-115.
Oliver, Kendrick. "The Apollo 8 Genesis Reading and Religion in the Space Age." Astropolitics 11, no. 1-2 (2013): 116-121.
Pop, Virgiliu. "Space and Religion in Russia: cosmonaut worship to Orthodox revival." Astropolitics 7, no. 2 (2009): 150-163.
Swanner, Leandra. "Contested Spiritual Landscapes in Modern American Astronomy." (2015).
Waltemathe, Michael. "Building the Moon Village. Human Culture on another celestial body." In 2018 AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition, p. 5371. 2018.
Weibel, Deana L., and Glen E. Swanson. "Malinowski In Orbit." Quest 13, no. 3 (2006): 53.
Weibel, Deana L. "‘Up In God’s Great Cathedral’: Evangelism, Astronauts, and the Seductiveness of Outer Space." The Seductions of Pilgrimage: Sacred Journeys Afar and Astray in the Western Religious Tradition 233 (2016).
Weibel, Deana L. "Pennies from Heaven: Objects in the Use of Outer Space as Sacred Space." Touching the Face of the Cosmos: On the Intersection of Space Travel and Religion: 33-44 (2016).