Canadian Astronaut Reflects on Life in Space, Spirituality

By Alison Lesley --
18 Nov 2013 --

During an interview with Terry Gross of NPR, Chris Hadfield, Canadian Astronaut, expressed his viewpoints regarding space, the universe, and faith. To answer if being in space affected his views on spirituality, Hadfield mentioned that his faith was well supported by his experience.

Orbiting the earth for thousands of times, Hadfield spent around 6 months in space. He began creating a series of videos on YouTube, one of them being this touching and artistic cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” It has now been viewed over 19 million times.

According to Hadfield, the world can’t be taken randomly, as the other planets of the solar system never remind you of the preciousness of the earth’s nature to contain life. And yet, he continued, space has so much to give to us, firmly expressing his respect towards the uniqueness of our planet.

Hadfield even went on stating how it feels to be in space while staring towards earth with the realization that it is compassionate, as well as complex, and describes our planet as a jewel.

As per his visualization, anyone being in space will feel the strength regarding his or her individual faith system. He pointed out that the feeling takes into consideration everything that the earth hosts for humans, including the illogical and brutal things that they are engaged in. He says “I think everybody would be reinforced in their faith, and maybe readdress the real true tenets of what’s good and what gives them strength.”

Hadfield mentions that this will be really felt by anyone and everyone who is in space.

The Canadian did not elaborate about his own faith system, saying that it depends on each individual. He continues by stating that the power of faith is within each respective individual. Therefore, when one is talking about his or her faith in-depth, they’re excluding the views of others with different faith it means that the same possessed by the others is ignored. His view is that there is nothing logical in this kind of activity.

Late last month, Hadfield published a book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, that describes his experiences and challenges faced while in space.

Listen to the entire interview here.