# Religion: An Underrecognized Tool in an Astronaut's Toolkit May 08, 2024 David Kim *Edited by* [*Aaron Michael Ullrey*](/people/aaron-michael-ullrey "Aaron Michael Ullrey"). *The following Research Reflection is part of an ongoing series spotlighting CSWR scholars and their research.* During long periods of space travel, humans endure observable physical and psychological difficulties, but they also face less obvious spiritual difficulties. Engineers and space scientists focus on astronauts’ bodies and minds but not their souls. Personal spirituality is an unrecognized resource for communal sustainability in space exploration. There are five major hazards during space travel: altered gravity, cosmic radiation, confinement, distance from Earth, and unknown hostile environments. Two pernicious hazards are cosmic radiation that badly affects the human nervous system, influencing and altering DNA, cells, and body tissues. Prolonged altered gravity causes motion sickness, muscle wasting, and changes to visual perception. Unmanned research vehicles have been deployed to Mars in recent years, including NASA’s Perseverance Rover and Ingenuity Helicopter, the United Arab Emirates’ Hope Orbiter, and China’s Tianwen-1 Orbiter and the Yutu 2 Rover. But long-term manned space travel and colonization of The Red Planet will require addressing the human bodies inside interplanetary vehicles. In addition to physiological demands, the isolation, distance from Earth, and unknown hostile environments present psychological challenges. Uncertain conditions decrease human performance, create conflict, and reduce the sense of security; in turn, these decreases increase loneliness, emotional strain, fear, lethargy, waning enthusiasm, and can even inspire violence. For Mars-oriented space travel lasting 2.5–3 years, advanced entertainment systems like virtual reality and augmented reality, access to media platforms like Netflix, AI pet companions, smart sleeping systems, and private hobbies (reading, simple sports, and drawing) could partly improve mental health. But could religion also support wellness in space? Science and religion may regard each other as odd, but they are not separate. Science does not perfectly understand the inner lives of astronauts. Religions display profound understanding of human inner worlds. Astronautical spirituality may be countermeasures that address psychological challenges for deep space travel and interplanetary habitation. ![Photo of inside space ship with icon of Jesus](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/hds_cswr/files/picture2.davidkimrr.png) Astronauts, unofficially, expect the presence of a supportive divine being who inspires comfort and assurance in uncertain circumstances. Actively appealing to this instinct for religion might seem desperate in emergency situations, but it could dramatically increase performance under stress. Crews on the virgin mission to Mars will surely encounter extremely hostile environments: lack of gravity (weightlessness), high speed (about 39,600 kph), and the absence of night and day. Science and religion do not impinge upon one another. They are different inquiry domains to address human concerns for long term space journeys and residence in space. As documented by Houston’s Mission Control Center, astronauts experience measurable psychological stressors including homesickness, monotony, confinement, altered day/night cycles, unstable rest, vibrations, and cosmic rays. Less measurable is the lack of subjective comfort. Even less measurable is the spiritual life of an astronaut. Limited evidence suggests that internal composure along with actively establishing and maintaining peaceful mind states are a potent source to inspire willpower, passion, responsibility, and perseverance. Space travel restricts the comfort required for individuals’ internal safety. Religion can inspire tranquility that supports achieving space mission objectives and attends to astronauts’ wellbeing. During the first manned missions to the Moon, NASA astronauts demonstrated their own religious sentiments, including positive relations to God, faith, and even the sense of a divinely revealed universe, though such expressions were not without controversy. On a 1968 Christmas eve television broadcast, three Apollo 8 astronauts orbiting the Moon recited the first ten verses of The Book of Genesis that depict scenes of God’s creation. A symbolic communion was privately conducted on the Moon by Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin, a church elder of the Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston. These religious sentiments supported the successes of missions by preventing psychological conflicts and engendering positive emotional states that address the inevitable isolation and loneliness experienced in space. ![Photo of three astronauts inside the space ship](/sites/g/files/omnuum4346/files/hds_cswr/files/picture3.davidkimrr.jpg) Religiously diverse astronauts representing space agencies from fifteen different countries cooperated in projects headed by the USA and Russia, including the Space Shuttle missions, Soyuz spacecraft, and the International Space Station. Multicultural astronauts represented religious backgrounds including Protestantism, Roman Catholicism, Judaism, Russian Orthodoxy, Islam, and Hinduism. While the abstract, ideological, or subjective responses of star travelers have not been explicitly considered in decision-making protocols for future missions, my research proposes a hypothetical space policy that deploys personal spirituality to cultivate positiveness, solicitude, self-sacrifice, endurance, courage, and optimistic hope, all of which will support psychological security in the space community. While space medicine, including drug and talk therapy, is included and integrated into operating protocols for interplanetary voyages, the spiritual wellbeing of astronauts should also be considered. Astronauts’ psycho-religious experiences have demonstrated no negative impact. The prosocial nature of personal spirituality has incredible promise to address discomforts in space. Confidence, assurance, and trust should not be underestimated. Religion potentially boosts these qualities. See also:- [ Religion ](/media-topic/religion) - [ Religion Across the Disciplines ](/topic-tags/religion-across-disciplines) - [ Researcher Reflections ](/topic-tags/researcher-reflection) - [ Transcendence and Transformation ](/programming-threads/transcendence-and-transformation)