Just finally got to see the brilliant 'Earth To The Moon' series episode involving Apollo 11 - last time it was on was New Years 1999 - and well I has other things to do

Anyway there is a scene - between the intial landing and the first walk in which Aldrin asked Mission control to broadcast a message - in the message he asked the people of the world to pause and give thanks by what ever means their culture chose. He then appeared to take a small vial of fluid (wine?) and communion waffer - then consumed both.

I feel I am pretty knowledgable about the Apollo program - but can not recall ever seeing reference to this message or Buzz's actions. Can anyone fill me in on the circumstance of what Buzz did - in particulr is he Roman Catholic - and did he arrange to have the wine and host blessed before leaving Earth.

As a side light - the possible intention of going back to the Moon made the blood sing....I had forgotten just how much the events of the Apollo program touched me.

Glen Chapman

Yes, Buzz is Catholic and he had arranged to take communion on the moon. But because atheist activists had raised a fuss after Apollo 8's reading of the Bible from lunar orbit, he couldn't make any explicit references to what he was doing.

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Clavius Moon Base

And since NASA was having a press conference at the time to discuss the landing, the general public didn't hear what Aldrin said, anyway.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

I write because I am NOT a member of the list where I found your question.

You asked if BA was a Roman Catholic...... someone answered that he was
indeed.

I did a google search earlier today because my Hubbie is interested in this
facet of the mission - I discovered BA is a 33 degree Mason......... this
is totally unaceptable for a Roman Catholic or main line Christian.
http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masoni...nauts_fdcs.htm
<http://www.phoenixmasonry.org/masonicmuseum/americas_astronauts_fdcs.htm>

Please forgive my unsolicited email.

What the...? Oh now I get it, um, I got nothing.

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Yeah ...

Me Sentiments, Exactly!

Heck, My Grandfather, was a Master Mason!

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I'm not quite sure, but I think I've read in Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon" that Aldrin was Presbyterian. The only catholic among the Apollo (and probably Gemini and Mercury as well) astronauts was Cernan - I think I either read that in his "Last Man on the Moon" or Kranz mentionedit in his "Failure is not an Option".
Was the denomination of the astronauts ever an issue in those times? I remember a passage in Michener's "Space" where the fact that there were so few catholic astronaut's was discussed.
And: a freemason on the moon? I don't think I can imagine what woo-woos make out of this combination.

Here are some details about happened.

In 1969, Madalyn Murray O’Hair filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against NASA after three astronauts broadcast an xmas message to Earth as they orbited the Moon in their Apollo 8 spacecraft onDecember 24, 1968. Their xmas message consisted of the first ten verses of the bible. O’Hair sued on the basis that government funds were used inappropriately to promote religion.

The complete story may be found here.

There were/are many people who don't want to see a government space program promoting a particular brand of religion or any for that matter. These people include many members of various religions. Good for them!

BTW, Buzz Aldrin is Presbyterian. That seems to be the most frequent denomination of astronauts. Take the Webster Presbyterian Church, for example. It was the church for John Glenn, Buzz Aldrin, Jerry Carr, Charlie Bassett and Roger Chaffee.

Speaking of John Glenn, here's an interesting bit about what he's been up to lately:

The complete article may be found here. Scroll down past the O'Hair section.

Here's an interesting excerpt from one of the winning papers:

Good grief, John!

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Maksutov and Astrosapien both get an "I corrected JayUtah" teeshirt!

Here are some more details about Buzz taking communion:

"First on the Moon -- A Voyage with Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Edwin E. Aldrin Jr", written with Gene Farmer and Dora Jane Hamblin, epilogue by Arthur C. Clark. Michael Joseph Ltd, London (1970), page 251:

EAGLE (Aldrin): Roger. This is the LM pilot. I'd 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 own way.

Buzz Aldrin had a special reason for wanting a little quiet; he had something very personal to do now, inside Eagle's cabin. After Mike Collins in Columbia had passed overhead, on the first lunar revolution following Eagle's touchdown, it was apparent that Eagle was going to be on the moon for some time. Aldrin had a small table in front of the abort guidance computer, and he had that little wine chalice, the one Dean Woodruff had given him, in his personal preference kit. He did not have a Bible with him, but he had written down some passages he liked, including one his minister used during the Communion service at Webster Presbyterian Church: I am the vine and you are the branches... Without Me you can do nothing at all.

Aldrin requested air-to-ground silence and celebrated one of the strangest Communions in the history of the Christian religion. He said later, "I would like to have observed just how the wine poured in that environment, but it wasn't pertinent at that particular time. It wasn't important how it got into the cup; it was important only to get it there. I offered some private prayers, but I found later that thoughts and feelings came into my memory rather than words. I was not so selfish as to include my family, or so spacious as to include the fate of the world. I was thinking more about our particular task, and the challenge, and the opportunity that had been given me. It was my hope that people would keep this whole event in their minds and see, beyond minor details and technical achievements, a deeper meaning behind it all -- a challenge, a quest, the human need to do these things."

[Buzz was an elder of the Webster Presbyterian Church -- page 227.]


From The Apollo Lunar Surface Journal:

105:25:29 Aldrin: Houston, Tranquility. Over.

105:25:31 Garriott: Tranquility, Houston. Go ahead.

105:25:38 Aldrin: Roger. This is the LM pilot. I'd 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 own way. Over.

105:26:08 Garriott: Roger, Tranquility Base.

[Long Comm Break]

[As he describes in his book "Return to Earth", Buzz is taking communion.]

[Aldrin - "A critical item of avoidance was one of adverse publicity from people like Madalyn Murray O'Hair (a militant atheist of the time who was then involved in a legal battle with NASA over the reading from Genesis by the Apollo 8 crew). But I think enough time has passed. I think it projects a positive image, (even though) it might not be my choice, now, of something to do during that time period."]

[Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Mrs. O'Hair's Apollo 8 lawsuit.]

For Apollo 8,

Bill Anders is Catholic.
Jim Lovell and Frank Borman are both Episcopalians.

Can we have a time line here

Was the action about Apollo 8 still going on while Apollo 11 was in play?

Over here in the UK, recent legislation means that in theory that Christmas decorations could be banned from the workplace and any mention of that season or any religious season what so ever. Ironically it comes from the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003

On this point about religion, have any Muslims been in space and if so what was the arrangements about praying towards Mecca ?

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Yes there has been. He was a Saudi prince. I do there were some sort of arrangment for daily prayer.

Saudi prince Sultan ibn Salman flew on a 1985 mission on board Discovery. There was some discussion of the direction to Mecca, but (I vaguely recall) that the decision was that the timing and intent were, under the circumstances, sufficient to count.

Ah, here we go - STS 51-G. The prince was there to observe the deployment of Arabsat-A (it being NASA policy at the time that paying for a Shuttle satellite deployment included the right to send one of your own people along). He has been quoted, for example, in the big book of Earth pictures from the Association of Space Explorers, about how quickly national and regional boundaries receded from the mind while watching from orbit. He appears often enough in the news that googling for the Mecca-in-orbit details seems likely to take a looong time.

Wasn't there also some trouble for astronauts of Jewish belief when it came to observe sabbath and to determine when it was?

http://www.jr.co.il/pictures/israel/history/a020527.txt

[edited to add link]

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