THE JOURNAL OF ASTROSOCIOLOGY VOLUME 1

Whereas spacefaring might seem to be a purely technological endeavor, if we take apanoramic view, we also find telltale signs of religion (Harrison, 2013; 2014; Launius, 2013).Non-scientific, populist, religious, and quasi-religious motives fuel people’s interest in spaceexploration. Russian cosmists such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky sought to gather up the dust of allpast generations, resurrect them (by purely scientific means), and let them populate other planetswhere they would live forever in solidarity (Harrison, 2013). They also hoped that through spaceexploration and settlement they could achieve perfection and attain everlasting life. During thegreat race to the Moon, god-fearing American astronauts were pitted against godless cosmonauts(Harrison, 2014). Astronauts read scripture and took communion in space. Two Bibles madebureaucratically perilous journeys to be left on the Moon (Mersh, 2011). Today, astronautreligious activity is muted by the separation of church and state, but before departure,cosmonauts receive blessings from Russian Orthodox priests, and carry religious scripture andicons on the International Space Station. For space aficionados, outer space is a promised land,which offers life without limits, solutions to Earth’s problems as well as transcendentexperiences and salvation from oppression and drudgery on Earth. Typically, people involved inspace exploration insist that they are scientists and their work is not related to religion, but RogerLaunius argues that it is precisely because spaceflight is a secularized religion that humanspaceflight continues despite tepid results (Launius, 2013).Eventually, as a result of immutable physical processes, stars will die, the universe willcollapse, and all life will come to an end. Perhaps right now in our supersized universe, manycivilizations have come and gone, others are in the process of rising and falling, and others areyet unborn. Physical, biological, and social factors will affect their longevity, just as they willaffect ours. Although it may be tempting to think that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations willhave solved all problems through technology, at present this is pure speculation (Peters, 2014).VI.Moving ForwardAstrobiology explores and integrates ideas from the physical, biological and socialsciences, and the humanities. Its origins stretch back to antiquity, but only recently has itemerged as a framework for organizing research on the origin, distribution, and future of life inthe universe. Astrobiology promotes multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research anddiscussion, and is a possible platform for consilience, or the unification of knowledge (Finney,1992; Dick, 2013). Additionally, the field includes an array of educational and outreach activitiesto attract and train the next generation of scientists and to inspire the public.It is important to broaden discussions of astrobiology to include constituencies such asspace entrepreneurs and industrialists whose activities such as developing solar power, asteroidmining, and space tourism will alter extraterrestrial environments. It is important also to includelegislative and administrative groups that control human activities in space, and here we shouldinclude military and intelligence communities. Additionally, since astrobiology has implicationsfor people around the world, it is crucial to increase international participation. And thesediscussions should not be limited to elites.The psychology of worldviews shows promise for understanding people’s views ofastrobiology and its findings. Worldviews make it possible for people to organize their thoughts,separate the real from the not real, the important from the unimportant, and maintain their© 2015 Astrosociology Research Institute25