Tag Archives: NASA

Bibles in the Night Stand

In the vein of the American Atheist’s complaint against NASA, a variety of similarly-minded groups continue to bring accusations of wrongdoing against government-associated religious organizations.  For example, the ACLU has criticized the Gideons providing religious materials while in some association with a government entity (including the Gideons’ interaction with the US military).

Controversies notwithstanding, the ubiquitous nature of the Gideons ministry almost inevitably leads to the never-gets-old joke:

How do they get those Bibles in all those locked hotel rooms?

Well, in 1996 evidence arose that the Gideons were successful in getting a Bible into one of the most inaccessible nightstands in the world; in fact, it’s not even in the world. Read more

Update: Christian Missions Aviation…in Space

On August 26th, NASA published a fairly detailed article on what the astronauts were taking up on Discovery when it finally launched last week, as well as the historical precedent that allowed astronauts to take up personal items (as noted in the previous post).

Two days after that article, American Atheists issued a press release criticizing NASA’s decision to allow Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester to take up a part of Nate Saint’s airplane.  The group said the action was a “violation of the separation of church and state,”  as well as Read more

Christian Missions Aviation…In Space

Updated with NASA’s “What’s Going Up?”

When space shuttle Discovery finally lifts off (after two unsuccessful attempts so far), it will carry a crew of seven and a very unique piece of missionary aviation history.

Mission Specialist Patrick Forrester is taking up a piece of Nate Saint’s missionary aircraft.  Nate Saint was one of five missionaries martyred by the Ecuadoran natives they were evangelizing in 1956.  The incident was international news at the time, and brought attention and interest in the fields of missions and missionary aviation.

Astronaut Patrick Forrester is an Army helicopter pilot and graduate of the US Naval Test Pilot School.  This will be his third shuttle flight in his 16 years with NASA.  In taking up a piece of the bush aircraft, Forrester notes the importance of his faith and his hope that he can inspire an interest in missionary aviation:  Read more

“God of Wonders” in Orbit and Afghanistan

Traditionally, Space Shuttle crews in orbit receive a musical “wake up call” at the end of their “sleep cycle” (“night” occurs every 90 minutes or so).  From the NASA website:

Wakeup calls are a long-standing tradition of the NASA program. Each day during the mission, flight controllers in the Mission Control Center will greet the crew with an appropriate musical interlude.  

Apparently, the music is chosen based on requests by the crew or their families.  This morning, the Atlantis crew awoke to “God of Wonders,” as performed by members of Third Day and Caedmon’s Call on the City on a Hill album, for astronaut Michael Good.  This morning’s transmission can be heard on NASA’s site.  After the song was played, Astronaut Mike Good said he looked forward to a productive day that would “bring glory to the Lord of all creation.”  From the transmission Read more

Apollo 8 Marks 40 Years

As noted at CNN, this week is the 40th Anniversary of the flight of Apollo 8–the first space flight to circle the moon.  Interestingly, CNN notes that the trip was one on which an “inspirational and soothing” event occurred:

Apollo 8 also produced what to many was one of the most inspirational and soothing moments in history when Lovell and crewmates Frank Borman and William A. Anders took turns reading from the Book of Genesis. It was Christmas Eve and the whole world was watching. NASA said at the time it was expected to be the largest TV audience to date.

The astronauts signed off with these words: “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.”

This same “inspirational” event was marked by a lawsuit in the US which influenced further “religious” acts in space, as previously discussed.

Jim Lovell was the third crewmember on Apollo 8; he is perhaps more famous for his role on Apollo 13, one of three astronauts that was supposed to land on the moon but never did.

Guidelines Issued for Islamic Observance in Space

According to reports, Malaysia has issued guidelines for Muslims to observe Islamic rituals while on the International Space Station.  This was brought about by the October 10 launch of a Muslim into space.

The situation is interesting to Christians in the US due to the American take on the same subject.  In 1969, Madalyn Murray O’Hair of the American Atheists sued NASA (O’Hair v. Paine) after the Apollo 8 crew read the first few verses of Genesis over the air during a broacast (mentioned on the Atheist website here).  O’Hair apparently believed that NASA ordered the astronauts to read the Bible in order to show the “godless Communists” that the “Christian US” was better than they, though this ignores the fact that all three Abrahamic religions acknowledge Genesis.

Though the case was dismissed, the “irritant” of the suit caused NASA to advise Buzz Aldrin of the Apollo 11 crew not to mention his observance of communion while in space (IHT).  In a manner of speaking, then, O’Hair achieved her objective.

First reported on the Religion Clause.

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