In just a few hours, Artemis II will launch from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, sending three NASA astronauts and one Canadian Space Agency astronaut on the first mission to the moon in over 50 years. The planned ten day trip will send the four astronauts on a free-return trajectory around the moon and back, traveling hundreds of thousands of miles before ultimately splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after a 25,000 mph re-entry.
It’s the first crewed mission beyond low Earth orbit since 1972, the heyday of the Apollo program. And while most are familiar with the stories of the men who first stepped onto the moon back in 1969, what is less known is that NASA kept a major secret from the public about this mission - one which many still don’t know to this day.
This is the untold story of how Buzz Aldrin took communion on the moon - and how NASA tried to keep the whole thing under wraps.
Sacrament on the Moon
On July 20, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first human beings to set foot on the moon. But before they did, they quietly sat in Apollo 11’s Eagle lunar module, awaiting instruction from command back on Earth. Armstrong and Aldrin sat for hours and spoke little during the mandatory downtime intended to help them recover their strength, before boldly going where no man had gone before.
In the quiet calm before Armstrong opened the hatch to step into history, Aldrin radioed the ground crew at NASA. "I would like to request a few moments of silence,” Aldrin said. “I would like to invite each person listening in, wherever and whomever 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."
He then pulled out a small canister containing wine and bread from Webster Presbyterian Church outside of Houston, where he was an elder. Aldrin had requested - and received - special privilege to give himself communion 238,900 miles from Earth.
“I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup,” Aldrin recalled later. “It was interesting to think that the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the first food eaten there, were communion elements." Aldrin read from the Gospel of John as Armstrong looked on.
Then, the two men opened the door and took those giant steps for mankind.
The NASA Cover-Up
At the time, Aldrin believed that his communion - the first act of faith undertaken on the moon - should have been broadcast to the world. But NASA had ordered Aldrin to confine his expression of faith to the lunar module, rather than the surface where the world would be watching, and to keep his comments as general as possible.
That was because famed atheist activist Madalyn Murray O’Hair had sued NASA just months prior after Apollo 8 astronauts orbiting the moon read from the Book of Genesis during a Christmas Day broadcast. Murray O’Hair’s suit was ultimately dismissed, but NASA officials feared that such an overt religious display from Aldrin - with the world watching - would open them up to further religious discrimination lawsuits.
For All Mankind
Interestingly, Aldrin later said that he had mixed emotions on the act - admitting some regret not out of loss of faith, but because the mission represented far more than the hopes and dreams of one man.
"Perhaps, if I had it to do over again, I would not choose to celebrate communion,” he said. “Although it was a deeply meaningful experience for me, it was a Christian sacrament, and we had come to the moon in the name of all mankind – be they Christians, Jews, Muslims, animists, agnostics, or atheists."
“But at the time,” he wrote, “I could think of no better way to acknowledge the Apollo 11 experience than by giving thanks to God.”
43 comments
-
Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Roush
The power of ritual was indeed perfect for such a moment. While someone else may have had a different ritual based on their own beliefs, such acts do recognize reverence for everyone and for the amazing power of this first-time event. Hiding sincere honest ritual and religion is as bad as demanding everyone subscribe to one particular view.
-
Peter Lindley Reagan
Radio waves travel at the speed of light… a little over 1 second to the moon
-
Cheryl
As beautiful as this story is, and as much as I would love to believe it happened, I get hung up on one thing -- when I was watching the lunar landing in '69, it struck me how the conversations between the astronauts and control center were so immediate, just like talking to someone here. But then I wondered how that could happen, since sound takes an hour to travel 750 miles and the Moon is a lot farther away than that. The other side of my brain thought that maybe they had the technology then to have spontaneous conversation, although the other side of my brain remembered the delays in conversations on the phone with people several states away (when we had to pay a lot for 'long-distance calling'. In the end, I'm not sure the whole thing really happened, but if it did, then I really hope that Aldrin did honor the one who became the Christ.
-
Heather Eddy
Jesus wasn’t a Christian. Christianity didn’t exist until 200 years later after all of the books were written and compiled into what we call the bible. Even then, most of that history was written long after Jesus was crucified, by people who did not know him. Jesus didn’t preach a religion, he was questioning religion. He talked with Jewish rabbis, Holy Men, mystics, seers & revelators in order to gain a deeper knowledge of god. He preached that God is everywhere and that you don’t have to go into a church to find god or commune with him. Which took a lot of power & money out of the churches pockets. He preached love & exemplified that. He fed the poor. He accepted ALL people. He was, if he were alive in the last 60 years, what we would identify as a hippie, without the psychedelics (as far as we know). Or a Mystic Prophet. He just wanted people to love each other and come together. If he were here right now, he would again be a controversial figure as he would challenge the current powers that be by influencing people away from religion that separates us, away from bias, hate, and religious superiority and towards 100% acceptance and love for each other no matter what. The Roman Church crucified him next to criminals, as an example of what would happen to people who followed & spread his teachings. They did so in order to regain control, because people were listening to him. He was a wise brave man who taught us plainly that We are all Gods children, warts & all, and that we are ALL infinitely loved.
-
Martin S
Wow...it's just amazing that this was published, let alone that so many people actually BELIEVE IT.
1) If NASA kept it under wraps, how does this person know all these little details? I mean, sure there could have been someone who decided to leak the information, but the little details about what they said or what they thought wouldn't be something that would come up, just out of the blue.
2) They were on the moon. Gravity would have been at such a low level that, pouring liquid from a flask into a cup would have been a very long and messy process. It would have been much simpler, faster, and SAFER to sip it from the flask it would have been carried in.
3) NASA may have approved "small canister containing wine and bread" for religious belief purposes...but a space launch is not a "Throw stuff in a capsule and send it up" process. There are very specific requirements for weight, mass, fuel consumption, and a myriad of other considerations. The story, supposedly quoting Aldren, says “I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup,”. A "Chalace" would not have been allowed to be included. The weight and mass alone could have thrown off the entire mission...and Aldren would have known that there would have been no way to ensure the items return to his church, so he would not have taken a sacred item like that on the mission in the first place.
4) O'Hare's lawsuit was dismissed due to Space being "outside the jurisdiction of Earth". There would have been no grounds for another suit to be filed...particularly since, unlike the previous incident, this wasn't a broadcast "religious service", but was instead, a personal religious ceremony.
5) Finally...unlike todays "Christians", maybe he wanted to actually FOLLOW what the Bible commands (as many used to do before Christianity became more about self-aggrandizement than an actual true belief). Mathew 6:5 “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 6 But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."
-
Rev. Harry
It's a shame the thread - a discussion certainly worth having - was hijacked by conspiracy theories that don't hold water. Think about this, at least those here who are capable of logical thought: the number of people with sufficient inside knowledge of the Apollo Program to know that it was a hoax number in thousands. Additionally, the number of Chinese and Soviet scientists with the capability of rooting out any such hoax, with the incentive to announce it loudly to the world, is quite high. Despite this, in the fifty-plus years since the last Apollo moon mission, not one person -- not one -- has uttered a deathbed confession to that effect. Think about that for just a moment, oh ye conspiracy theorists.
-
Rev. Miche'al Yosef Dixon
Interesting 🤔 that is two men personal Spiritual time and he did give "anyone listing" a chance to not listen. And not reporting every fart is not uncommon. How many people know about Commander Valetina's (1st Woman in space - Soviet Cosmonaut) 1st words in orbit "Truly there is a God for such Beauty can't be made by nature". This same Cosmonaut at risk of execution by her government saved Allen Shepard's life when his Gemini capsule malfunction and she had to transfer him to her's and bring him back. Neither government wanted that embarrassment to get out. 1969 America was 99% Christian and NASA didn't give a rats butt about a suite that non-christians would never win even if they bribe the judge and jury. It wasn't hidden just no more important than breathing.
-
Rev. RA Spears
Yes, Rev Ken Shostad, like this article, there are a few marshmallow-filled gaps in the history we are taught, but you cannot say it. Shh.
For example, did anyone hear the following story in Sunday School?
Jesus said clearly that he actually came to save the Jews, not the gentiles. Jesus said it was time for Hebrews to become Christians, to move on from ancient Hebrew law. Circumcision no longer required (whew). No metaphors. No ambiguity. Yes, Jesus actually was the saviour of the Jews, but they did not recognize him. Sound familiar? It gets better.
Peter and Paul (fka Saul - formerly self-avowed christian-loathing Jew), spent years after Jesus' death travelling and preaching Christianity exclusively to Jews in synagogs. Some Jews got God's message, were baptized, and came back to God. The ones that did not convert, continued to kill, persecute, and prosecute for obvious reasons. After years of battling the Hebrews, eventually, they gave up preaching to the Jews at all. Lucky for us at least. Though it makes me wonder what would have happened to the gentiles if the Jews had not rejected Jesus.
-
Patricia Ann Gross
Rev. Spears,
Where did Jesus say anything clearly? There are four Gospels all telling the same stories in different ways, so which do you choose?
Not all of Paul's churches were Jewish. Several of them (for example, the ones in Rome, Thessoloica, Corinth, and Galatia) were Gentile. They were also not in synogogues, they were mostly held in people's homes, because of the persecution going on up until the time of Constantine in the fourth century CE.
-
-
Rev. RA Spears
Hello all
Has anyone been watching the news about the launch? The astronauts and the reporters, even during the launch, have all specifically said that this will be the first time a human has gone beyond low-level orbit. They have no idea what will happen to these people when they pass beyond that point. No idea how the human body will react, let alone the equipment. Any trekkies know what a deflector does?
They have been telling us this fact for the last several years, but obviously people do not want to hear it. The story of the moon has been a singular point of american pride. Do not feel bad though. There are tribes in the amazon that believe their shaman has been to the moon too. They are no worse off for it.
cheers
-
Colleen McAllister
They did not say the we have not been out of low orbit. The truth is that due to the orbit of both the moon and earth the distance changes by a small amount. We will be slightly farther than before. Pay attention.
-
Rev. RA Spears
Slightly farther than what? No one has been to the moon yet.
You've made my point.
ps-thank you for not using further lol
-
Colleen McAllister
Slightly more miles than the other trips. Look it up you might learn something.
-
Sir Lionheart
It’s interesting you should suggest to Rev Spears to “Look it up you might learn something”, when you continue to hang your religious hat on a only a “belief” structure, rather than a factual evidentiary structure to determine whether its really worth just relying on “religious beliefs”.
We now factually know that it was only historians, who never met those they wrote about, that wrote most of what you can read in the New Testament. We also know from studies that the efficacy of prayer is just as reliable as crossing ones fingers, or carrying a rabbits foot in your purse.
There is still insufficient evidence that any of the worlds gods are real. If you still don’t believe me, you could look it up, you might learn something.
🦁❤️
-
Peter Short
The same thing can be said the other way Prove with facts it didn't happen, not written or hear say, but real facts. That's the issue no one can, so let those that believe what they want.
-
Sir Lionheart
There’s no way I can prove it didn’t happen, just like you can’t prove it did. Neither of us can disprove that fairies, and/or magical incantations by witches were involved changing water into wine, or helping to raise someone from the dead, if these things actually happened at all. 🤷
🦁❤️
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Reverend Paula Copp
I wonder if it would have been the same reaction if he had held a pagan ritual…
-
ServantOfJudgement
It sort of was. Apollo is a pagan god. Notice how the anti religious glaze over that fact?
Good point though...
-
-
Rev. Carol M Anaski-Figurski
Amazing story. Thank god their trip to the moon was safe & they arrived well. Blest Be in Jesus name Amen. Don't ever be ashamed of your faith. Prayer is always the right thing to do.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Your religious beliefs should be treated like a sexual fetish that involves a wooden spoon, duct tape, sandpaper, baby urine and bovine fecal matter…after you finish take a shower, brush your teeth and keep your silliness tonyourself.
-
-
Father Frederick
Not surprising that NASA would keep this secret, one man or planned group. The way people are triggered by religion, and specifically "their rituals" vs what Aldrin planned.
Look at us today. Anyone of us is up for public scrutiny by someone else, even same faith. And objectors tend to run in packs like hungry dogs feasting on the need to prove others wrong. Some things are best left discrete/secret from the general public because too many people want their opinions to supersede those involved in the ritual.
Ironically, there are times when this board/forum has those very types of people feel the need to attack and criticize, rather than read and move on if they disagree. The late 60s and early 70s was a time for packs of people to attack church practices simply because it was not their belief.
-
Elizabeth Jane Erbe Wilcox
Who cares?
-
ServantOfJudgement
What a testimony that Jesus was waiting for them on the moon. Premeditated. Nice.
-
Rev. Ken Shostad
ALL of the NASA photos and Videos showing the moon landing are FAKE... There's never been a moon landing nor any space travel, as we've found nothing to get past the EM Belt...
I've found MOST ALL I've been taught in school as well as ALL the colleges [3] I've been to taught PROPAGANDA...
The churches as well, teaching that the Jews are Still The Chosen peoples of GOD when it clearly states they are NOT as they Murdered Christ Jesus, thus GOD went to the Gentiles "The Church" "Christians", anyone who accepts Christ Jesus as their LORD and Savior...
GOD Bless you ALL...
Rev. Ken
-
Michael Hunt
The what belt? Is the International Space Station a hoax as well? Are the entire world's education systems all conspiring against us to push the propaganda you claim? Every single scientist and telescope operator too?
-
ServantOfJudgement
Van Allen radiation belt. Ken is correct but only partly. The belt is fluid and not consistent in thickness. High speed and available window is the key to pass through without lethal results. The field is far beyond the space station so those guys need not worry about it.
-
-
pastor master blaster
Bruh I was talking to a moonman behind the CVS last night and he told me they got these big discs on the moon that look like impact craters and they use these discs to transmit secret encoded messages into schoolchildren all over the earth that tell them when and where to buy pokemon cards and which card packs contain shiny pokemen which are designed and issued by satan himself and that the children who carry these cards are brought into the fold of satanic angels and made to carry out his will here on the mortal plane and that's why you gotta catch em all.
-
ServantOfJudgement
There's actually quite a bit of truth to your claim Blaster though not in a way you'd recognize.
The moon part we can write off straight away. The satanic imagery we expose our children to however can not written off. Programming in all forms is imagery based. Even AI translates speech into text, aka imagery, which it uses to carry out instructions. Even braille is imagery for the blind. Now, our music videos and box office hits all project demonic imagery into the greedy eyes of the willing. The youth are a natural sponge, designed by our creator to absorb and learn in all things in all ways.
That's why we've got blue tattooed faces with horns and cheek gauges handing us fast food take out from McDonald's choke and puke restaurants.
The weak minds get programmed friend.
-
pastor master blaster
Bruh if the moon isn't real then how do you explain Moon Pies?
-
-
-
Sir Lionheart
Bless your heart, I’m sure you mean well.
You’ve got me curious now though, I see you said you went to school, may I ask if you completed all your schooling, and what scientific knowledge did you use to determine your claims about the EM belt, aka the Van Allen belt.
As one that helped with the redesign of the Solid Rocket Boosters after the Challenger disaster in 1986 to get the Space Shuttle program back in flight for NASA you have me very curious.
🦁❤️
-
Joseph B. Barnett
The only fake here would be a, "Christian Pastor", claiming that the Jews are no longer the chosen people because they crucified Jesus. First of all you need to remember that Jesus was a Jew and God's plan was for Him to be sacrificed for our sins. It was also the Romans who actually crucified Him since the Jews at the time were not allowed to perform capital punishments. Secondly God never changes nor does He ever take back anything that He has given. Therefore His promise to the Jews still stands and they continue to be His chosen people and we are His chosen people through the Holy Spirit as the spiritual seed of Abraham. Any Christian especially a pastor worth their salt should know this already.
-
-
PKBW
Who cares where it took place. At least they did it.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
I can see why NASA kept it secret. Well, didn’t comment on it. Same way they didn’t comment on which man took the first dump in space. Just leave some things be.
If I had been Armstrong, and been asked if I wanted to partake? The shake of my head would have spoken volumes.
But his request to all of Houston Control? Out of line. He should have been told not to broadcast his ‘beliefs’.
-
Patricia Ann Gross
Why out of line? He did not ask for them to give thanks to God, only to savor the moment in a means that would make the memory stick, using their own way of celebrating the truly awesome moment. He had just made significant history. That he chose to commemorate the moment with a sacramental ritual that gave thanks to God for keeping him safe and transforming the world forever was his way of savoring the moment.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
Nope, he asked them to participate in a religious ritual. Just my opinion but you should keep your religious nonsense to yourself. Your religious beliefs should be treated like a sexual fetish that involves a wooden spoon, duct tape, sandpaper, baby urine and bovine fecal matter…after you finish take a shower, brush your teeth and keep that silliness to yourself.
-
Patricia Ann Gross
Read the article again:
Quote: "In the quiet calm before Armstrong opened the hatch to step into history, Aldrin radioed the ground crew at NASA. 'I would like to request a few moments of silence,” Aldrin said. “I would like to invite each person listening in, wherever and whomever 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.'"
That doesn't sound to me like asking them to participate with him, but for them to relish in the history that they just witnessed in their own ways.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
You are correct, I read too much into ‘ Aldrin read from the Gospel of John as Armstrong looked on.’ But…..
- This was a scientific mission. Pray before you go or pray to yourself.
- Give thanks? Something tells me he wasn’t suggesting the engineers and scientists that built the thing. Or as Spock would say ‘ Diety had nothing to do with the success to this point. It was the result exemplary education on the part of scientists and engineers.
-
Patricia Ann Gross
Just because science was involved does not negate God's participation in the event. Where do you think all that knowledge came from, sure it was scientific research, exceptional engineering, and a huge cast of people that could put together such a complicated and precise project. If you cannot look beyond the test tube for where all that knowledge, including the quest for knowedge came from, you aren't looking hard enough. This mission was so complex that any minor glitch (as was proven by Apollo 13) could have derailed the mission and put the lives of all the astronauts in jeopardy. It is a marvel that the human body was able to survive the energy required for lift-off, hit the precise re-entry angle, and then survive the heat generated by re-entry, so why not give thanks to the creator that put everything in motion. I'm not discounting all the people who played other parts in this drama, but without the creator's will and help, nothing else matters. I'm sure in their own way Armstrong and Aldrin gave plenty of thanks to their supporting cast.
-
Dr. Zerpersande, NSC
You can believe deer droppings are Hershey’s Kisses but it doesn’t make it so. But the difference between example and what you ‘believe’ is that both deer droppings and Hershey’s Kisses actually exist. A closer analogy for you would be saying that unicorn droppings are actually Hershey’s kisses.
Keep your Bronze Age nomadic desert goat herder beliefs to yourself. Demonstrating your willful ignorance is annoying and it doesn’t belong ANYWHERE in the government,
-
-
-
-
-
-
Colleen McAllister
Get real, one man affirming his own faith is hardly hosting a religious service. What Aldrin did was known at the time and few people objected at the time. Freedom of religion indeed.
-
Nicholas J Page
If you can't have a sermon in the capsule then where else can you have it and NASA Shame on you for forbidding it.Every one haste right to free speech and saying prayers etc Just think it would have been broadcast around the world and it would have been unique and also closer to heaven
-
Patricia Ann Gross
Nicholas,
I know you are in the UK, so a little bit of background. Madeline Murry-O'Hair was a staunch athiest and at that point in time was suing anything within the public sphere that mentioned any type of religion. NASA had been sued before for reading a Bible passage as part of it's transmission that was broadcase. If you read the article, the lawsuit never went anywhere, but NASA still had to fight in in court, mounting to tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees (would have been millions in today's economy). NASA was only trying to keep it from happening again, and Armstrong complied. Buzz Aldrin said it only felt right to give thanks to God at that moment. He said he probably wouldn't do it again, because the moment belonged to all humankind, not just the Christians, but it was his way of giving thanks in the moment.
-
A smidgeon of wisdom, from Frederick Nietzsche, about those who demonstrate their lack of awareness of astrophysics, because they resist listening to my personal astrophysicist, Dr. Tyson, on his podcast “Star Talk.” “Faith, as an imperative, is a veto against science—the lie at any price.