Yesterday was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing where Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.” The second man on the moon, Buzz Aldrin said, “Magnificent desolation.”

Buzz’s first action on the moon’s surface was to take Holy Communion. This is not well known because of some flack NASA took when the astronauts read Genesis 1 during Apollo 8. Buzz describes his actions in his recent book No Dream Is Too High: Life Lessons from a Man Who Walked on the Moon, chapter 12. Here are some of his words.

Once we had landed safely on the Moon, our schedule included time to eat a meal and to rest. As a gesture of my thankfulness, I planned to participate in a personal spiritual experience by celebrating Holy Communion as one of my first actions on the lunar surface.

…So a few weeks before our launch date, I asked my friend and pastor Dean Woodruff, minister at Webster Presbyterian Church where I attended when I was home in Houston, to help me. Dean provided some Communion wafers and a tiny chalice that I could take with me to the Moon.

…Once Neil and I had shut down the engines and completed our checklist, from my position in the Eagle, now located on the Sea of Tranquility, I radioed Mission Control. “I would like to request a few moments of silence,” I said, “and 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.” 

My way was with a symbolic wafer and thimbleful of wine that I had packed in my personal belongings pouch. We had little room for extras on board the Eagle, but the Communion elements didn’t take up much space, and this was something special that I wanted to do, not just for myself but as a symbolic act of gratefulness for all mankind. 

I pulled out a three-by-five card on which I had written the words of Jesus: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me, and I in him, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me.” During the few moments of silence, I read the words on the card quietly, to myself. Then I pulled out the Communion wafer and the sealed plastic container of wine and poured it into the chalice Dean had given to me from our church.

Although it was a spiritual moment, I was still a scientist, so I couldn’t help noticing that in the Moon’s gravity—only one-sixth of that on Earth—the wine curled ever so slowly and gracefully up the side of the chalice before finally settling after a few moments. I slipped the wafer into my mouth and then drank the wine. I didn’t tell anyone what I was doing, and Neil looked on respectfully and silently as well. I offered a silent prayer of thanks and for the work yet to be done. Neither NASA nor anyone else in the U.S. government ever let on what I had done during the moments of silence on the Moon.

That’s something to think about when we remember the moon landing!

Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! (Psalm 139.7, 8, ESV)

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22.19, 20, ESV)

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. (1 Corinthians 11.23 – 26, ESV)