Remember when that Russian cosmonaut went up in space and when he came back reported that he didn’t see God? Things are different now for Russian space travelers.
From Faith in space: Cosmonauts who vie to affirm their devotion | The Economist:
. . .Displays of religous devotion have become a field of competition among cosmonauts, with Russians tending to outdo the Americans. Ronald Garan, an American cosmonaut (and fighter pilot) who is a devout Catholic, once soared up to space accompanied by relics of Therese of Lisieux, a French Catholic saint who had expressed the longing to “preach the Gospels on all continents simultaneously”. This gesture reflected his close relationship with a community of nuns in Texas. For the Americans, the practice of bringing sacred objects to space goes back a long way. In 2014, NASA auctioned a “microfiche Bible” which had been brought to the moon by an American astronaut in 1971.