Pope Benedict XVI had a direct line to the heavens Saturday, with NASA's help.
Speaking
from the Vatican, the pontiff bestowed a historic blessing upon the 12
astronauts circling Earth during the first-ever papal call to space,
wishing a swift recovery for the shuttle commander's wounded
congresswoman wife and condolences for a station astronaut mourning his
mother's death.
The
"extraordinary" conversation, as Benedict described it, occurred after
the Endeavour astronauts inspected a small gash in the shuttle's belly,
to ensure their safe return to Earth after departing the International
Space Station in just over a week.
NASA later determined the damage
posed no threat to the next-to-last flight in the 30-year shuttle
program.
Seated
at a table before a television set tuned to NASA's live broadcast from
orbit, Benedict told the space travelers that "you are our
representatives spearheading humanity's exploration of new spaces and
possibilities for our future."
He said he admired their courage,
discipline and commitment.
"It
must be obvious to you how we all live together on one Earth and how
absurd it is that we fight and kill each one," the pontiff said, reading
from prepared remarks.
"I know that Mark Kelly's wife was a victim of a
serious attack, and I hope her health continues to improve."
Kelly,
who is of Irish-Catholic descent, thanked the pope for his kind words.
His wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, had surgery to repair her skull
Wednesday, four months after being shot in the head at a political event
in Tucson, Ariz.
She was nearly killed, yet managed to attend her
husband's launch last Monday.
Kelly told the pope that borders cannot be seen from space and
noted that down on Earth, people usually fight for resources.
At the
space station, solar power provides unlimited energy, "and if those
technologies could be adapted more on Earth, we could possibly reduce
some of that violence," he said.
Benedict
asked about the future of the planet and the environmental risks it
faces, and wanted to know what the astronauts' most important message
would be for young people when they return home.
Space
station astronaut Ronald Garan Jr. spoke of the paper-thin layer of
atmosphere "that separates every living thing from the vacuum of space."
And shuttle crewman Mike Fincke described how he and his colleagues
"can look down and see our beautiful planet Earth that God has made."
"However,
if we look up, we can see the rest of the universe, and the rest of the
universe is out there for us to explore," Fincke said.
"The
International Space Station is just one symbol, one example, of what
human beings can do when we work together constructively."
Near
the end of the 18-minute conversation, Benedict expressed concern for
astronaut Paolo Nespoli, whose 78-year-old mother died in northern Italy
at the beginning of May while he was serving on the space station.
"How have you been living through this time of pain on the International Space Station?" the pope asked.
"Holy
Father, I felt your prayers and everyone's prayers arriving up here
where outside the world ... we have a vantage point to look at the Earth
and we feel everything around us," Nespoli replied in Italian.
Nespoli will end his five-month space station mission Monday, returning to Earth aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule.
He
will bring back with him a silver medal that shuttle astronaut Roberto
Vittori took up with him on Endeavour, that was provided by the pope.
It
depicts Michelangelo's "Creation of Man," the painting on the ceiling
of the Sistine Chapel.
Vittori
floated the commemorative coin in front of him, then gently tossed it
to Nespoli, positioned on the opposite end of the front row of
astronauts.
"I
brought it with me to space, and he will take down on Earth to then
give back to you," Vittori told the pontiff. The astronaut said he prays
in space "for me, for our families, for our future."
The
long-distance papal audience was arranged by the European Space Agency
and the Italian Space Agency. NASA provided technical support from
Mission Control in Houston.
Inside
the ancient frescoed halls of the Vatican - where e-mail wasn't even in
wide use until a few years ago - the call was received with visible
awe.
The
84-year-old Benedict chuckled when one of the astronauts began floating
up at the end of the transmission. He waved to the U.S., Italian and
Russian crew at the beginning and end of the call.
The
Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the call was
evidence of the pope's desire to communicate with people however
possible, be it sending a text message with a prayer of the day or a
YouTube channel playing church teachings.
Pope
Paul VI sent a greeting to the moon with Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and
Buzz Aldrin in 1969, but it was in a silicon disk that contained
goodwill messages from numerous countries and was left on the Sea of
Tranquility.
"I look up at your heavens, made by your fingers, at the
moon and stars you set in place," said Paul VI, quoting from Psalms 8.
Mission Control, meanwhile, was glowing. Flight controllers watched on monitors as the pope got set up for the interview.
"It was just an amazing event, really a beautiful event," said lead flight director Derek Hassmann.
Before
gathering for the extra-special VIP call, the astronauts conducted an
hour-long survey of the gouge in Endeavour's belly, using a 100-foot
extension boom.
Mission
managers ordered the inspection as a precaution, saying there was no
reason to be alarmed by the damage generated by Monday's liftoff on
Endeavour's final voyage.
Experts on the ground immediately analyzed the
3-D images beamed down, and concluded the shuttle is safe for re-entry.
The extra safety checks were put in place following the 2003 Columbia disaster.
The gouge - spanning two or three tiles - measures just 3 inches by 2.4 inches, and is less than an inch deep.
Similar
damage was seen on a flight by Endeavour in 2007, and that, too,
required no repair.
By coincidence, that mission was commanded by
Kelly's identical twin brother, Scott.
Landing is scheduled for June 1.