The Moon Communion Of Buzz Aldrin That NASA Didn't Want To Broadcast

[hrmjustin]

Yasmine Hafiz

45 years ago man landed on the moon.

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin prepared to take "one small step for man," Aldrin wanted to commemorate the moment in a way he found most personally meaningful -- by taking communion.

Aldrin, a church elder at Webster Presbyterian Church in Webster, Texas, at the time, spoke to his pastor Dean Woodruff to try to find a way to symbolize the wonder and awe of the moon landing a few weeks before lift-off. Aldrin wrote said, "We wanted to express our feeling that what man was doing in this mission transcended electronics and computers and rockets."

The communion bread and wine, symbols of everyday life, seemed to be a fitting way to commemorate the extraordinary moment. Woodruff equipped Aldrin with a piece of communion bread, a sip of wine, and a tiny silver chalice which he brought aboard as part of the few personal items each astronaut is allowed.

?2

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/19/moon-communion-buzz-aldrin_n_5600648.html?utm_hp_ref=religion

[rug]

1. Imagine what FFRF would say if it was around then.

[hrmjustin]

2. I thought the same thing. if I posted this in religion I could just imagine the responses.

[rug]

3. "Why should we subsidize the transport of those crackers?"

Dan Barker, the founder of FFRF was ordained a year after the moon landing. I bet he said a prayer for them.

[hrmjustin]

4. Yep that is exactly what we would here.

This is why I post no ops in there anymore unless it is a feast day.

[goldent]

5. Cool story! I love learning new things about the space missions of the 60's.

I love the imagery of this story. Buzz Aldrin was, in reality, a tiny part of the most important mission of an enormous human undertaking (i.e. the space program.). Neil Armstrong was uncomfortable as the hero, and often pointed that it was the thousands of engineers, builders, and managers who deserve the credit.

Buzz expresses the same sentiment in the verse:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him?

These were incredible men.