More on faith of cosmonauts

A new church has been built at the Baikonur Cosmodrome (Cf. Church at space centre). This is a phenomenon following the collapse of the Soviet Empire and the consequent resurgence of Christianity.

See the interview with cosmonaut Valeriy Korzun at this page from the Orthodox Encyclopaedia site. Around the world, everyone has heard the apocryphal declaration from Yuri Gagarin "I went up to the outer space and didn't find any God there". Korzun comments:
I know another phrase, also said by Gagarin: "If you haven't met God on Earth you won't meet Him in outer space". This phrase is much closer to my heart. A lot has changed: every crew gets a priest's blessing before the launch now.
Nowadays, the Russian cosmonauts receive a blessing from their priest before travelling.

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