Space Activism as an Epiphanic Belief System

Years of interaction with young people in the space industry and in space activists groups led to my observation that many such individuals can cite a quite specific life event that triggered a life-long interest in or commitment to creating a space future. I am particularly intrigued by parallels between such experiences and the phenomenon of epiphanic experiences among committed Christians. I see analogies between the puzzlement among space activists and among Christian groups as to the reasons for so many people being "unbelievers." At a small international meeting on lunar exploration in 2003, I heard two separate lunch speakers cite such personal experiences. At the beginning of a break in that meeting, I grabbed the microphone from the chairman and asked each person to write down on a pad by his chair whether or not he (or she) had experienced a specific event that led to their involvement in space. If the answer was positive, I asked for a brief narrative, for their age at the time, and for their current age. I received 53 submissions, 20% of which simply stated that their involvement in space exploration was happenstance. (Apollo astronaut John Young was among these.) The other 80% of the submissions had specific stories. The ages at the time of the epiphany ranged from 4 to 47; and their current ages ranged from 22 to 78. I will present a high-level characterization of these inputs. Interest in space exploration as a form of belief system is consistent with choosing NASA goals for the purpose of inspiration and with phenomena such as the "Overview Effect". More research might explore what form the transcendent experience takes and whether it might be associated with feelings of universal connection such as the noosphere or "The Force". From a pragmatic point of view, outreach strategies for exploration should focus on giving individuals access to personal, potentially transformational experiences as opposed to astronaut talks at civic clubs.