WHILE going into space can be a religious experience for some, for the devout it can pose peculiar challenges. Take Malaysia鈥檚 National Space Agency: it is trying to work out how its astronauts will practise Islam in space during a future Russian space mission.
Traditionally, Muslims pray five times per day. This would be a challenge if the 鈥渄ay鈥� is the 90 minutes it takes their spacecraft to orbit Earth. 鈥淎ny legal scholar advising these astronauts would have to simply pick various times that would roughly correspond to their morning, noon, afternoon, sunset and night prayers,鈥� says Alan Godlas, a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Also, facing Mecca while zooming around the planet at 28,000 kilometres per hour will be tricky. Godlas says that facing Earth might have to suffice. 鈥淭here are instances where the Prophet indicated kind of a general direction,鈥� Godlas says.
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Religious practice and symbols in space are nothing new. For instance, there is a Christmas tree on the International Space Station. 鈥淔or some, religion is very comforting,鈥� says Walter Sipes, chief of operational psychology at NASA鈥檚 Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.
