- Sending human remains to the Moon on the first commercial lunar lander, Peregrine 1, on Jan. 8, 2024, along with scientific instruments, caused a controversy.
- The inside of the lander was to be a kind of “space burial” for remains of some 70 people.
- Each of the families had paid over US$12,000 for a permanent memorial on the Moon.
Jewish death rituals and purification
- There were many ways in which one could become ritually unclean, and each level of pollution was cleansed by an appropriate purification rite.
- After the Romans destroyed the Temple in 70 C.E., Jewish religious practice changed dramatically, including rules about purification.
- These days, after a burial or visit to a cemetery, many Jewish people wash their hands to wash away negative spirits or energy.
Christian death rituals over the centuries
- Corpses or cremated remains were interred in burial places outside cities and town – in the necropolis, literally a city of the dead.
- As monotheists, Christians rejected belief in the Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, including the Moon goddess called Selene or Luna.
- They also refused to participate in Roman state religious rituals or activities based on pagan polytheism.
- Unlike some other religions, neither Judaism nor Christianity considers the Moon divine or sacred.
- In both Jewish and Christian spiritual writing, the Moon is used as a spiritual analogy: in Judaism, of the majesty of God, and in Christianity, of Christ and the church.
Islamic beliefs on burial
- After death, the deceased is ritually washed, wrapped in shrouds and brought for burial in a cemetery as soon as possible.
- The soul of the deceased is said to visit their loved ones on the seventh and 40th days after death.
- In September 2007, when the first Muslim astronaut from Malaysia got ready to go into space, the Malaysian National Space Agency published religious directives on burial rituals for Muslims in space.
Hindu and Buddhist funerary practices
- Hinduism is a diverse religion, and so funeral practices often vary according to culture and context.
- Most commonly, death and the period following a person’s death are associated with ritual pollution.
- In the many forms of Buddhism, death provides an opportunity for mourners to reflect on the impermanence of all things.
In older forms of Buddhism in Nepal and Tibet, the Moon was understood to be identified with the god Chandra, who rides on a chariot. The Moon is also one of the nine astrological deities whose movement provides insight for reckoning individual and collective futures.
Difficult questions
- Peregrine 1 never made its soft landing on the Moon because of an engine malfunction, and its payload was destroyed after entering the atmosphere.
- As more people decide to send their ashes into space, however, religious conflicts are bound to arise.
The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
