Fricking Awesome: Moon Pope to Space Station

Rocco Palmo finds some of the coolest things.  Excerpts:

Over four decades after his predecessor of the time greeted the prelate whose diocese encompassed Cape Canaveral as the "Bishop of the Moon" and hailed the Apollo 11 team as the "conquerors" of the lunar surface, earlier today saw Benedict XVI boldly go where no Pope has gone before as the pontiff held a live chat with the crew of the International Space Station, which took place as NASA winds down its decades-long investment in the shuttle program.

Beyond a discussion of science, the group's vantage and the troubles of the planet, B16 turned personal in the 15-minute Q&A session -- arguably the greatest extension of his preferred encounters (but, this time, with him asking the questions) -- referencing the January attack in Tucson that killed several and gravely injured Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (the wife of the American captain of the venture, Capt. Mark Kelly) and the recent death of the mother of an Italian crew-member, astronaut Paolo Nespoli.

For the full treatment, thanks to "Houston," here's the complete video of the Pope's Moontalk....