Vatican astronomer: Manned space travel most memorable event of 20th century

(Vatican Radio) As we remember the anniversary of the first manned space flight by a soviet cosmonaut on April 12^th, 1961 many people describe mankind’s travel in space and the moon landings as the most remarkable and memorable events of the 20^th century. Brother Guy Consolmagno is a Jesuit astronomer and Curator of Meteorites at the Vatican Space Observatory and he spoke to Susy Hodges about the huge excitement engendered by these feats and about the relationship between astronomy and religion.

Listen to the extended interview with Brother Consolmagno of the Vatican Observatory:

Brother Consolmagno says he has vivid memories of that first ever manned space flight and although just a boy at the time was closely following the space program. He talks of the “tremendous excitement” triggered by this event that up to then had seemed the stuff of fantasy. He says that historic first flight into space by a human being meant “that the things we’d only dreamt about or read about in science fiction were actually coming true.”

Brother Consolmagno is convinced that space travel in general and especially the moon landings and taking our first steps in space will be of lasting significance in the history of mankind. “It’s the one thing we’ll be remembered for in the 20^th century”, he says.

Asked if he believes space exploration and astronomy can help us get closer to the Divine, Brother Consolmagno says: “Both astronomy and religion remind us that there’s more important questions than what’s for lunch, it pulls us out of our day-to-day worries and concerns and gives us a much larger perspective on who we are and how we fit into this enormous universe.”

And when it comes to further space exploration, Brother Consolmagno says we are constantly expanding our knowledge of the universe and at the same time discovering just how little we know. “There’s always more to be discovered,” he says, … if God is infinite, then this revelation in science is also going to be infinite.” “We’re never going to run out of things to be surprised by.”