Space Science and Spirituality Funded by Templeton Foundation

Space Science and Spirituality brings together a research team of scientists, philosophers, and scholars in the humanities to investigate, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of outer space travel on the inner space of experience. Specifically we are focusing on experiences of awe and wonder during space flight as reported by astronauts. 

We take our working conceptions of awe and wonder directly from an initial survey of these reports. Awe: a direct and initial feeling when faced with something incomprehensible or sublime. Wonder: a more reflective feeling one has when unable to put things back into a familiar conceptual framework. Awe motivates wonder, and wonder has the potential to change one’s life. E2i Creative Studio has designed a mixed reality Virtual Space Lab for this experimental study, where the team will investigate whether a simulated environment can produce experience similar to those described by astronauts in space flight.