Communion is viewed as one of the most important sacraments in the Christian faith, so it is not surprising to hear about someone taking it. It is, however, unusual to hear about a Christian taking communion nearly 240,000 miles away.

July 20 marked the 45th anniversary of the first lunar landing in human history when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the moon. Armstrong is remembered by his famous "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Aldrin is not so much recognized for one publicized action, but rather one that the U.S. government and NASA tried to cover up because of a previous lawsuit related to the Apollo 8 reading of Genesis.

Before Aldrin and Armstrong took to the moon surface, Buzz decided to take communion; an event that he had wanted to do months before the launch.

Excerpt from a Guidepost interview from October 1970 courtesy of Eric Metaxas:

One day while I was at Cape Kennedy working with the sophisticated tools of the space effort, it occurred to me that these tools were the typical elements of life today. I wondered if it might be possible to take communion on the moon, symbolizing the thought that God was revealing Himself there too, as man reached out into the universe. For there are many of us in the NASA program who do trust that what we are doing is part of God's eternal plan for man. I spoke with [Pastor Dean Woodruff] about the idea as soon as I returned home, and he was enthusiastic. "I could carry the bread in a plastic packet, the way regular inflight food is wrapped. And the wine also-there will be just enough gravity on the moon for liquid to pour. I'll be able to drink normally from a cup. Dean, I wonder if you could look around for a little chalice that I could take with me as coming from the church?" The next week Dean showed me a graceful silver cup. I hefted it and was pleased to find that it was light enough to take along. Each astronaut is allowed a few personal items on a flight; the wine chalice would be in my personal-preference kit.

Then while on the moon surface, Aldrin finally took communion after the 240,000 mile journey: