From his perch at the Vatican, the pope spoke Saturday for about 15 minutes via video link to the crew of the International Space Station and the U.S. space shuttle Endeavour docked alongside.

He talked about world affairs and expressed sympathy for wounded U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was shot in the head by a would-be assassin at a political event four months ago. Her husband, Mark Kelly, who is of Irish-Catholic descent, is commander of the Endeavour. The astronauts talked about the importance of space exploration.

The pope could see the astronauts on a television screen, but they only heard his voice. No Skype in use on Vatican computers apparently.

It was the first time that the pope has spoken with astronauts in orbit, though Pope Benedict XVI isn't the first pontiff to have a space connection.

Sitting in the Sea of Tranquility on the moon in 1969. It was deposited there by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and contains messages from other world leaders of the era.