Let us take a look at the Apollo missions and religion, especially Apollo 11. Astronauts have practiced their religion while in space, sometimes publicly and sometimes privately. Religious adherence in outer space poses different challenges and opportunities for practitioners.
Commander Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had been on the Moon for less than an hour when the radio blackout began. After an exhausting four-day journey from Earth, NASA required the two astronauts to rest for a few hours before exiting the lunar module to make humanity’s “great leap.”
But just before the blackout, Buzz asked his listeners 250,000 miles away “to give thanks in his or her way” for the safe landing.
In the weeks before the Apollo 11 Moon mission, Buzz met with his pastor at the historic Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston to help him choose a symbolic act to christen the moon landing.
Did Buzz Aldrin Read From The Bible in Space?
Although Buzz Aldrin originally wanted to do something patriotic, he finally settled on an act of faith: taking Communion. In this respect, Buzz would be following in the steps of generations of European explorers who thought it was God’s grace that enabled their exploration and conquest of the “new world.”
Buzz read a passage from the Gospel of John he had scribbled on an index card: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit. Apart from me, you can do anything.”
Despite the universality and diversity of religious sentiment, NASA’s first human spaceflight program’s spiritual faith was regularly Christian. This was a reality of the space program that was all but openly promoted.
The religious protestant astronaut’s figure was epitomized in John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth as part of NASA’s Mercury program, who frequently invoked his religious commitments at press conferences.
The astronauts were all white, and all protestants seemed to be described as wholly benign evidence of their Small-Town American virtues.” Although the Mercury program may have set the stage for a Christian astronaut corps, this legacy was cemented during the Apollo era due largely to a NASA scientist named John Stout.
Was The Crew of Apollo 11 Religious?
God made the Moon on the fourth day of recorded history. On the 201st Day of 1969, man is scheduled to land on the lunar surface. Furthermore, if all goes well, America, home of the world’s leading Judeo-Christian culture, will have defeated the Russians in the lunar landing race.
A question often raised has been whether or not the astronauts—Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins would give recognition during their journey to the God of the Moon and their country’s religious heritage.
All three Apollo 11 astronauts grew up in active church environments. The 38-year-old Neil Armstrong, who first stepped onto the Moon, grew up as a faithful Ohio church boy. Neil regularly attended Sunday school, church, and the youth activities of Little Wapakoneta’s Evangelical and Reformed Church (now named United Church of Christ).
Armstrong was, says his mother, “a religiously inclined youth.” His friends describe him as an all-American boy who was interested in church and school, close to his family, and avidly interested in model airplanes.
Yet organized religion seemed to lose its hold on America’s newest pioneer hero after he went to work for NASA. “He’s devoted his whole time the last few years to work,” his mother said.
Did Buzz Aldrin Take Communion Aboard The Lunar Lander?
When Buzz Aldrin first floated the idea of celebrating Communion during the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, NASA administrators reacted with skepticism.
Yet Buzz, who would later describe the mission as “part of God’s eternal plan for man,” was insistent, and officials eventually permitted him to hold a service under the condition that he keep it quiet.
Buzz then approached the pastor of his church, the Rev. Dean Woodruff of Webster Presbyterian Church near Houston, about the idea, and the questions shifted from legal to theological.
Although Buzz Aldrin was an ordained Presbyterian elder, it was unclear whether he would be permitted to oversee Communion on his own. However, when his pastor asked the Presbyterian Church’s stated clerk, one of the highest denomination positions, the official offered a quick yes.
Woodruff then procured a small silver cup for Buzz Aldrin to carry into orbit, making sure that it would fit the weight specifications.
Did Buzz Aldrin Read John 15:5?
The plan eventually came to fruition shortly after the “Eagle” touched down on the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Sitting next to Neil Armstrong, Buzz pulled out the chalice, wine, and bread from his “personal preference kit” and then talked into the radio.
“This is the Lunar Module pilot. “I would like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his or her way.”
Buzz took a moment to read silently from John 15:5, which he had scribbled on a 3-by-5-inch card: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I, in him, will bear much fruit, for you can do nothing without me.”
The Apollo 11 astronaut then set about completing the Christian ritual alone, earning him the first astronaut to celebrate a religious rite on a heavenly body other than Earth.
“I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the Moon’s one-sixth gravity, the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the cup’s side. It was exciting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the Moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements.”
What is The Church of The Astronauts?
The “church of the Astronauts” still commemorates Lunar Communion Sunday. Webster Presbyterian Church also celebrates it every year closest to the moon landing’s July 20 anniversary.
According to the Presbyterian Church Office of the General Assembly, Webster Presbyterian has been called the “church of the astronauts.” It’s been the spiritual home of many Apollo astronauts and engineers from the nearby Johnson Space Center, including John Glenn, one of NASA’s original Mercury Seven astronauts and the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth.
Buzz Aldrin’s celebration of Communion aboard the Eagle “as an extension of our congregation” is one of the church’s 126-year history milestones.
To this day, Lunar Communion Sunday at Webster Presbyterian includes a reading of a passage from Psalm 8: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the Moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?”
The passage was one of two Buzz read in space, and Webster Presbyterian had read it during its service on the day of the moon landing.
The church also displays a replica of the chalice Buzz Aldrin used. And the real one is in a bank vault, according to the Chronicle.
Did The Pope Bless Apollo 11 astronauts?
Like millions of people worldwide, the pope, St. Paul VI, watched the Apollo 11 Moon landing on TV.
St. Paul VI had a unique vantage point. He observed it at the Vatican Observatory, even peering through its primary telescope to view the Moon where the Apollo 11 astronauts stood, imperceptible even to the powerful instrument. The pope then greeted and blessed the Apollo 11 astronauts in English:
“Here, from His Observatory at Castel Gandolfo, near Rome, Pope Paul the Sixth speaks to you astronauts.
“Honour, greetings, and blessings to you, conquerors of the Moon, the pale lamp of our nights, and (our) dreams! Bring to her, with your living presence, the spirit’s voice, a hymn to God, our Creator, and our Father.
“We are close to you, with our good wishes and with our prayers. Together with the whole Catholic Church, Pope (Paul) the Sixth salutes you.”
The pope later joined the Apollo 11 crew and their wives at the Vatican.
What is The Apollo Prayer League?
Although Buzz Aldrin kept his Communion on the lunar surface quiet for many years, he had spiritual backup.
When O’Hair filed her lawsuit alleging the Apollo 8 crew violated the US Constitution’s establishment clause by reading the Book of Genesis while in orbit, a group called the Apollo Prayer League leaped to the astronauts’ defense. The League finally accrued more than 8 million signatures and letters championing Apollo astronauts’ religious freedom.
The group was created years earlier by NASA’s then-chaplain, a scientist and Presbyterian minister called John Maxwell Stout, and his spouse, Helen, in the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts. The final wishes of one of the dead astronauts, Ed White II, involved putting a Bible on the lunar surface, a mission Stout took up in his honor.
Credit: NASA.
Apollo 11 And Religion
Furthermore, on Sunday, July 20, 1969, moments before Neil Armstrong set foot on the MoonMoon’s surface, his crew member Buzz Aldrin took the initiative in a sober and rapid ceremony to combine the Gospel’s reading Presbyterian communion. Under pressure from atheist organizations, the agency (NASA) did everything to conceal this faith act.
At 8:17 p.m. (universal time). The Eagle has just landed on the Sea of Tranquility. Neil and Buzz’s gestures are numbered and timed, while Michael Collins, aboard the command module, remains in orbit while waiting to recover the astronauts.
Yet, despite the intensity of the moment, Aldrin adjourned the proceedings for a few moments. The former US Air Force ace, now an astronaut, takes a plastic bag from which he extracts a container containing wine, a piece of bread, and a small chalice provided to him by the church. Presbyterian of Webster, situated near Houston.
Buzz Aldrin Reads From St. John’s Gospel
In the receiver that connects Buzz to the NASA command post, he then speaks a few words:
“I ask you for a few moments of silence, and I would like to invite people who are listening, who and wherever they are, to stop instant to consider the events of the past few hours and to give thanks in his way.”
Then Aldrin reads an extract from chapter 15 of St. John’s Gospel: “I am the vine, and you branch the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I, in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.” which he had copied by hand on a piece of paper before embarking.
And once these words were spoken, under the gaze of Commander Neil Armstrong, who remained silent, Buzz administered himself Presbyterian Communion under a special authorization assigned to him by the Church of Webster.
“I poured the wine into a chalice that our church gave me. With a gravity six times less than on Earth, the wine made curves gently and gracefully on the cup’s walls. It was striking to think that the first liquid poured on the Moon and that the first food absorbed was the communion.”
It was, he will also say, his way of giving thanks and expressing that by exploring space, he was acting in the name of Christ.
Deke Slayton, head of astronauts’ office
No doubt, Buzz would have liked to make a much more impact on his approach and repeat on the lunar surface the gesture of Christopher Columbus, setting a cross on the sand of the unexplored beaches he was tackling.
But political correctness was at work at the time, and the agency had asked it to act discreetly for fear of attracting atheist organizations’ wrath. “Go for it, but be content with generalist comments, ” said Deke Slayton, head of the astronauts’ office. And this is how only the ground crews heard Buzz Aldrin’s religious words and not the general public who was eager for the three heroes’ slightest actions of the lunar conquest.
Is There a Bible on The Moon?
Buzz brought a scrap of Scripture with him to the Moon, likely because a full printed copy of the holy book did not fit within NASA’s rigorous weight requirements. Consequently, the Apollo Prayer League determined to land a Bible on the Moon and created microfilm versions of the Bible.
Even so, landing one on Earth’s natural satellite proved to be tricky. The first two efforts failed: Apollo 12 astronauts mistakenly stowed a single microfilm Bible in the orbiter instead of the lander. And while Apollo 13 too carried microfilm Bibles aboard (reportedly presented to the astronauts by then-U.S. Rep. George H.W. Bush), that mission famously never landed on the lunar surface due to a mechanical malfunction.
However, the famous Astronaut Edgar Mitchell managed to lug 100 microfilm Bibles to the surface of the Moon with him during the Apollo 14 mission and return them to Earth. The Bibles survive to this Day.
Astronauts And Christmas
December 24, 1968, in what was the most-watched television telecast at the time, the astronauts of Apollo 8 flight, at the suggestion of Christine Laitin, delivered in turn from the Book of Genesis as they orbited the Moon.
Gideons International provided the Holy Bible used. Jim Lovell, Bill Anders, and Frank Borman recited Genesis chapter 1, verses 1 through 10, verbatim, applying the King James Version text. Anders read verses 1–4, Jim read verses 5–8, and Frank read verses 9–10, concluding the transmission.
Was Astronaut James Lovell Religious?
“And God called the light DayDay, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first days. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. And God made the firmament and divided the waters under the firmament from the waters above the firmament: and it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second “days.
Astronaut William Anders
“We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you. In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth. And the Earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the deep’s face. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness”.
Astronaut Frank Borman
“And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters called the Seas: and God saw that it was good. And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth”.
Apollo Astronauts Invoking Christ
By invoking Christ through his words and gestures, the Apollo astronaut understood how to restore to the world the event that was the first step of man on the lunar surface’s real dimension: a feat without common measure but which could not make a man overlook his rank as a creature.
Is there something about space travel that presents itself to spiritual transcendence? Probably. As Buzz Aldrin pointed out, “God reveals himself in space as man reaches out to the universe. And there are many of us in the NASA program who do trust that what we are doing is part of God’s eternal plan for man.”
There are also functional implications, as astronaut Mike Good, another Catholic shuttle veteran, noted. “Heading out to the launchpad is like being in a foxhole,” Mike said. There’s not a lot of atheists in a foxhole. I don’t think many atheists are sitting atop the launchpad.”
The Apollo astronauts and several on-the-ground support teams wanted to get the Bible to the moon. What does that imply? God’s Word and the foundation of Western civilization mattered to many people in the space program.
