The piety of cosmonauts

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.

But the Russians, to put it mildly, are catching up. In recent days, a Russian cosmonautdisclosed that in addition to icons and a copy of the New Testament, which are well-established features of the Russian part of the station, he would bring on his forthcoming mission to the ISS some fragments of stone from Mount Thabor, the peak in northern Israel associated with the transfiguration, the moment when Jesus is said to have appeared to three of his followers in a blaze of heavenly light. And on his watch, the call signal among the Russian space travellers would be “Thabor”.

In 2011, the chaplain at the Space City outside Moscow told an interviewer he had performed rites of blessing for many Russian and non-Russian cosmonauts en route to the ISS  since 2006 and only two compatriots had refused to be sprinkled with holy water.

From Faith in space: Cosmonauts who vie to affirm their devotion | The Economist: