Avaruus ja hengellisyys

SpaceX teki viime sunnuntaina tärkeän testilaukaisun. Kun Falcon 9 -raketti oli puolitoista minuuttia laukaisun jälkeen saavuttanut 1600 km/h nopeuden sen moottorit sammutettiin. Tyhjä miehistökapseli ("Crew Dragon") irrotettiin ja se laskeutui hallitusti maahan. Koe osoitti, että miehistö selviää hengissä jos laukaisussa tulee testiasetelman ("in-flight abort test") kaltaisia ongelmia kantoraketin toiminnassa.

SpaceX:n ja sen pääomistaja Elon Muskin tavoite on saada ensimmäiset ihmiset Marsiin vuonna 2024 ja miljoona ihmistä Marsiin vuoteen 2050 mennessä. Tavoite on huikea!

Avaruuslentojen yhteydessä on monesti keskusteltu astronauttien uskosta ja hengellisyydestä. Mitä usko merkitsee astronauteille? Onko avaruuslento hengellinen kokemus? Alla pari poimintaa mielenkiintoisesta artikkelista.

"The earliest days of American human spaceflight were dominated by white Christian protestants. Does religion have a place in the future of space exploration?"

"a handful of the astronauts did report feelings of divinity while on the moon. Mitchell, for one, reported a feeling of “universal connectedness,” and Apollo 15 astronaut James Irwin said he felt God all around him. Indeed, Irwin was so overcome by his experience on the lunar surface that he asked his colleague David Scott if they could hold a religious service atop some nearby hills before they departed from the moon. Scott ultimately shot down this request, so Irwin made do by quoting Psalm 121: “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.” This experience, Irwin later reported, was “the beginning of some sort of deep change taking place inside me” marked by a profound belief in the power of God."

"Space was once dominated by protestant Christians, but we may finally be on the cusp of turning space into a truly universal form of spiritual exploration."

"In 1987, the author Frank White gave the quasi-religious experience of seeing Earth from space a name. He called it the overview effect. Unlike the explicitly Christian experiences of the Apollo astronauts, the overview effect is more of a spiritual phenomenon that is disconnected from any specific religious connotations. It is marked by a perception of the connectedness of all things and an appreciation of the fragility of life. In the 30 years since the term was coined, astronauts have repeatedly reported experiencing the overview effect from the International Space Station."

Spaceflight and Spirituality, a Complicated Relationship https://www.wired.com/story/apollo-11-spaceflight-spirituality-complicated-relationship/