Pope makes contact with astronauts in space mission

May 22, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

McClatchy Newspapers

VATICAN CITY

Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday became the first pontiff to make contact with space when he linked up by video to greet astronauts aboard the International Space Station and the space shuttle Endeavour.

Sitting at a desk in his Vatican Apostolic Palace residence, the 84-year-old pontiff commended the “courage and discipline” of the 12 astronauts who, huddled together, appeared to him on a television screen.

“This is a conversation, so I mustn’t be the only one doing the talking,” a smiling Benedict said.

During the contact, which lasted some 20 minutes, the pontiff inquired about the health of Endeavour Commander Mark Kelly’s wife, U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., who is recovering from a bullet wound to the brain suffered in an assassination attempt in January in her home district.

Benedict asked the astronauts how space missions could “contribute to peace” between nations on Earth.

“From up here, we can’t see borders, but we are well aware of the war and violence that exists ... especially in the Middle East,” Kelly replied.

Noting how “competition over resources including energy” often caused tension between nations, Kelly said astronauts could set an example by the way they cooperate and share the limited resources available to them during space missions.