Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong took communion on the moon. Did you know that? I’d never heard that story. It showed up on Snopes this week.

I don’t know why, but I really found that to be interesting. The last few years I’ve been studying a lot about the Lord’s Supper. I never read, though, about the astronauts’ lunar communion.

The Associated Press reported the incident this way back in 1969:

Astronaut Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. went to the moon today with a piece of Communion bread he will use there to symbolize fellowship with his home church on earth.

When the Rev. M. Dean Woodruff [minister of the Webster Presbyterian church where Aldrin was an elder] brought out the bread for Communion, a portion of the loaf had been broken away. The minister explained that Aldrin took a portion of the loaf with him on the moon trip and at some time during the afternoon, after the moon landing is made, Aldrin would symbolically join the other parishioners in Communion during one of his rest periods.

Go over to Snopes if you’re interested in reading the astronauts’ own accounts.