Last week at the Smithsonian Folk Life festival, three astronauts spoke: Tom Jones, Carl Walz and Joe Edwards. They said many interesting and fun things about their experiences in space.

A woman raised her hand and asked a question similar to one I would have asked if I had been called upon. "How has your experience in space effected your spiritual life and your relationships?"

To my great surprise, all three men said they were religious people and expressed positive spiritual impressions.

Jones, said that even though it was a great privilege to be chosen to represent humanity in space, it was a humbling experience, especially during space walks, to feel so small and insignificant against a backdrop so awe inspiring that no evolutionary model could explain.

Perhaps the most expressive of the three was Walz, who spent time on the International Space Station. He said that during his six month stay in space, he took his Yamaha keyboard along and spent time on Sundays floating in the lab, playing hymns and holding his own personal services.

Edwards, with a great deal of levity, spoke of a relative's similar inquiry after he returned: "did you feel closer to God in space?" His response was that before his launch, with the prospect of thousands of pounds of fuel and millions of pounds of thrust surrounding him at liftoff, he felt it was important for him to "get closer to the Almighty before going."

In a private conversation with Walz and Jones later, both men expressed their surprise to see in the Russian section of the Station images of Tsialkovski, the Russian rocketry pioneer along side an icon of the Holy Family. Jones said, "they don't have the same hangups about separation of Church and State that we have." Jones also referred me to his book Sky Walking. Walz remarked that even though Gagarin denied seeing God in space, First time Cosmonauts are often baptized before their flights.

I am constantly impressed that though they would not all come across as evangelicals, many of the people in our space program are open to their spiritual side as they experience parts of nature most of us will never see. It is comforting to me to know that as we expand into the universe, the launch pad is not monopolized by atheists.

PT