Â鶹Éç

Available for over a year

Good morning. Yesterday’s Daily Star reported on the bad luck of a woman from Bradford who has been abducted by aliens 52 times but added that we shouldn’t feel too sorry for her as ‘at least she's been getting some foreign travel in’! In the light of the small number of countries on the Government’s green list and the rising costs of holidays for those destinations, I had wondered if outer space might have been added alongside South Georgia or the South Sandwich Islands. As it happens, the Blue Origin project of Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos is inviting on-line bids for a seat on the launch of its New Shepard spacecraft in July. This announcement was made on the 60th anniversary of Alan Shepard’s sub-orbital flight to become the first American in space. In a similar experience, a space tourist would be taken to the upper atmosphere for a few minutes of weightlessness and a very different view of the Earth, seeing its curved horizon against the darkness of space. Putting a person into space has always been controversial – the risk, the cost compared to more immediate needs, and its part in political power games. Yet the dream of space travel reflects a desire within us to be explorers. In following those dreams we will see our world in a different way. Apollo 11 astronaut, Michael Collins, who died just a few days ago, wrote ‘The beauty of the planet from 100,000 miles should be a goal for all of us, to help in our struggle to make it as it appears to be.’ Indeed, significant energy for environmental responsibility came from the iconic Apollo views of the Earth in space. Now I’ll never get into space as the problems of height, weight, age and claustrophobia come even before the major question of having the money and its ethical use. But there are other ways to explore and see the beauty of the planet. It may be a daily walk away from the computer screen. For many it will be the prospect of a foreign holiday. But my own Christian faith also gives a different view. Scientific exploration for me highlights the beauty of the world as creation, and in Jesus’ vision of the Kingdom of God I see a new horizon for the world characterised by justice and love. The challenge for me is to join in the struggle to make it as it appears to be.