Russian space city builds new route to heavens

The return of the church
During Soviet days, religious celebrations in the city were forbidden. But as soon as Kazakhstan declared its independence, a small group of people at the spaceport petitioned the Russian Orthodox bishop of the nearby city of Akmolinsk to open a parish and send an ordained priest.

The bishop consulted with church officials in Russia, and in June 1992 they sent Father Sergey to Baikonur. With the Russian space program nearly bankrupt, the situation wasn’t the easiest. The congregation grew rapidly, however, and soon there were too many attendees to fit into the small store during services.

Easter 1994 marked a major turning point for the congregation, when about two thousand people crowded the street outside the makeshift church and city officials approved a live TV broadcast of the services.

One particular new member had a unique request. Aleksandr Viktorenko was preparing to blast off for the Mir space station that October. He asked the priest for a special blessing of the crew and rocket before launch, a revolutionary ceremony that has since become routine.

NASA A Russian Orthodox priest gives a traditional blessing to Michael Foale, left, Alexander Kaleri, center, and Pedro Duque, on Oct. 18, 2003, shortly before the three men launched from Baikonur to the international space station. The now customary ceremony was revolutionary when it began in 1994.

The congregation’s next goal was a real church, and they set about raising money and scrounging supplies. They laid out a budget of 4.5 million rubles (about $150,000), augmented with truckloads of cinderblocks and other surplus building materials left behind when official construction projects were cancelled. Ground was broken late in 1997.

A church in Voronezh, Russia, donated bells. A monastery at Sergeyev Possad near Moscow donated icon panels. Cranes from space construction sites were loaned for the mounting of the domes. Last June, the church structure was completed and consecrated.

Father Sergey also trained his aides and successors, including five retired military officers who entered the priesthood at Baikonur (Lenin’s name was taken off the city in 1995). The priest is now dean of all Orthodox parishes in the northern half of Kazakhstan, where most Russian citizens are concentrated.

He attributes the church’s success to the highly educated populace, most of whom work at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. “Nearly ninety percent of the population of Baikonur is comprised of people with a higher education,” he told the Ekspress K newspaper in June. “I am convinced that educated people are able to progress much faster on a spiritual ladder, and the Baikonur parish is a shining example of this."

Father Sergey is also an enthusiast for space exploration, which he sees as making manifest the glory of God. “Man can go into space, that’s good," he told the newspaper. "He can view unbounded horizons, other planets, and appreciate how wisely this entire gigantic “mechanism” was constructed, in which everything is computed literally to the millimeter.  And every sane person, discovering all this knowledge himself must say, 'Glory to Thee, O Lord, Who hast so wondrously made it all.'”

MORE FROM SPACE

Space Section Front

Stars and stripes in space Volcanoes on Mercury solve 30-year mystery Mars lander’s next whiff could be its last Space probes trace solar system’s dent Mission to Saturn goes into overtime Scientists eager to see Hubble’s facelift Pentagon is in the market for spy satellites 100 years later, Tunguska still mysterious   See the cosmos on your computer Test your science and space smarts Space Section Front   Add Space headlines to your news reader: