The U.S. Space Program made its last launch yesterday. Some research could possibly suggest that space travel influences belief in God and Heaven.
When the shuttle took off yesterday, many people described the situation in words basically amounting to "unbelievable" and "beyond description." The emotions of "awe" and "elevation" seemingly match nicely onto these descriptions.
These emotions are associated with the desire to be a better person. For instance, awe heightens charitable donations and pro-social goals, which are a primary goal of religious belief (if only people remembered this)!
Psychologist Jonathan Haidt (University of Virginia) has argued that "awe" and "elevation" are most frequently found in religious contexts. Just a quick thought scan of all the hymns I heard my entire life supports this conclusion. You don't bow down or worship or pray (not freely at least) to something that does not elicit awe and wonder.
So perhaps one way that space travel elicits belief in the Supernatural (or could) is that it inspires awe and wonder in people, which is associated for most (is it still most?) people with religious beliefs. If we can experience such beautiful and warm emotions, then perhaps there is a God behind this all driving us towards something higher and better. That's the perception at least.
Another way space travel could heighten afterlife belief and belief in God is arguably less intuitive. Research shows that when people are directed to think about God, they later show greater memory for things that are high in one's visual field (e.g., objects presented high on a screen instead of low). It could be then that when people are directed to focus on something high (like space travel) that this cognitive focus activates more thoughts of God. A ton of research shows that people tend to believe things more just because they are thinking about them. For instance, the more someone hears someone say something, they more then tend to believe it.
I'll close by adding that these are just hypotheses about how space travel could heighten spiritual beliefs (by which I mean God and an afterlife). But, they are hypotheses that can be reasonably derived from past research.
So does space travel increase belief in God? I'd be suprised if it didn't. Should I ever do these studies, I will keep you all posted on the results.
