Faith-based coalition wants to place cross on moon by 2027

A public witness to Christ in space is the goal of a new initiative to put a metal cross on the moon.

The group behind the effort, dubbed the HOPE-1 mission, is Cross on the Moon Coalition, founded last year by Catholic tech entrepreneur Justin Park, who hopes the cross will serve as a physical reminder that “God is the center of the universe.”

Faith communities have offered support, though members of the space industry have offered less – especially those who don’t see faith as compatible with scientific discovery. But Park believes the initiative holds the power to spark conversation about the Christian message and about the compatibility between space exploration and faith.

“I believe religion and space exploration go hand in hand because they are both searching for the truth,” Park told CatholicVote.

The coalition’s website highlights the compatibility of faith and space, focusing on the discoveries of notable Catholics. These include Nicolaus Copernicus’ development of the heliocentric model of the universe in 1543, the establishment of the Vatican Observatory in 1891, the Apollo 8 crew reading the first ten verses of Genesis while orbiting the moon on Christmas Eve 1968, and astronaut Buzz Aldrin taking the Eucharist just hours before Neil Armstrong’s first step onto the moon.

Still, the cross mission faces challenges from more than a handful of critics. The cost of getting an object to the moon is staggering. The coalition must use the lightest metal composites possible for the design since the estimated cost of getting the cross to its destination hovers around one million dollars.

Objects sent to the moon must meet rigorous standards and undergo vacuum chamber testing, thermal threshold testing, and acoustic vibrations testing. The coalition’s team expects to further refine the design of the cross by holding a university design competition.

The HOPE-1 team hopes to place the cross on the moon’s surface sometime in 2027, though it’s unclear whether the cross could accompany a NASA moon mission or be transported by a private space company such as SpaceX. The Lion has asked the coalition for more details.

Park previously said the “MoonCross” has already provoked discussions about the relationship between science and faith, opening up opportunities for evangelism. The coalition hopes successful completion of their mission will open up even more.