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This article appears in the February 26, 2016 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.

Mankind’s Realization of Its Own True Self Lies in the Development of Space

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Feb. 18—The following statement was released today by Kesha Rogers, who was twice the democratic nominee for U.S. Congress in the 22nd Texas Congressional District. She leads the fight against Obama’s criminal shutdown of NASA and for a dramatic expansion of the space program.

What is required of nations today, in order to come together around that common aim of all mankind—progress? It starts with recognizing what visionary space scientist and pioneer of aerospace technology Krafft Ehricke once called mankind’s “extraterrestrial imperative.” The purpose of mankind is to chart new paths, create new frontiers, and make new discoveries—achievements not realized by man before. Ehricke knew that reaching the lunar surface would be a milestone in the expression of man’s extraterrestrial imperative. The inspiration for Ehricke on the great lunar frontier came at a very young age, when he saw Hermann Oberth’s 1929 film, Frau im Mond, or Woman on the Moon. Ehricke’s extraterrestrial imperative saw it as inevitable that man—as a species capable of unlimited development—had to go into space. Ehricke once exclaimed, “Necessity provides the reasons for making space operations a matter of routine. In the next 30 years, the process of converting once alien and hostile space into a useful and enjoyable resource will be accelerated greatly. The discovery of our civilization’s many needs for space has hardly begun.”

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LPACTV
Kesha Rogers speaking to LPACTV on Feb. 1 from the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

When President John F. Kennedy uttered those inspiring words, “we choose to go to the Moon, and to do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard,” he was not speaking of a one-time experience of fulfilling some thrill of competing in a race, like race car drivers, aiming to be the first to the finish line, or wondering who will be the first to plant their flag on the Moon, so that years later a new President could come along and say “been there, done that.”

Kennedy too recognized that mankind has an extraterrestrial imperative, and that it starts with the landing of human beings on the Moon and then continues by further mastering and developing the lunar surface as mankind’s gateway to developing the universe. Kennedy understood that this was the interest of all mankind. When the Soviet Union sent mankind’s first spacecraft to orbit the Earth, the Soviets charted a path that inspired the world. Great visionaries knew that mankind had a greater destiny in exploring the limits of our Solar system and beyond. Kennedy knew that the United States had to be a leader in this mission; he understood that his call for landing a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s was the only way forward, despite opposition by budget cutters, environmentalists, and those who wished to push a limits-to-growth depopulation agenda of war and starvation. President Kennedy also recognized that the danger of escalation to nuclear war—and the implicit threat of annihilation of the entire human race—would only be ended by adopting and implementing mankind’s mission to conquer space.

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Courtesy of Krafft Ehricke
Krafft Ehricke (1917-1984), the visionary pioneer who identified mankind’s “extraterrestrial imperative.”

In his January 20, 1961 Inaugural Address, President Kennedy challenged the powerful nations who stood in conflict with each other, saying that they had to begin anew in a quest for peace. He declared, “Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us. Let both sides, for the first time, formulate serious and precise proposals for the inspection and control of arms—and bring the absolute power to destroy other nations under the absolute control of all nations. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Together let us explore the stars, conquer the deserts, eradicate disease, tap the ocean depths, and encourage the arts and commerce. Let both sides unite to heed in all corners of the Earth the command of Isaiah—to ‘undo the heavy burdens . . . (and) let the oppressed go free.’ ”

Where is that conquest for peace and true scientific progress today? One need not look to the collapsing trans-Atlantic system, which is on the verge of a total meltdown, and is doing just what President Kennedy warned against, exploiting the problems which divide us as peoples. That system is now undoing Kennedy’s vision for advancing the conquest of space, as we see in Obama’s destructive policies with respect to our space program. Those powers insist on placing limitations on mankind, and refuse to accept who and what we truly are, thereby destroying the advances of truly creative discovery and scientific progress. They are oppressing the people.

President Kennedy’s proposal, “together let us explore the stars”—this is just what the nations of Russia and China have now adopted as their purpose and mission. The conquest for peace is now being fulfilled by advances in space and especially the breakthrough developments on the Moon being charted by the Chinese. Those advances, when combined with the Chinese offer of a “win-win” strategy of cooperation among nations, through the development of the New Silk Road and other great projects for the betterment of all nations, go far beyond the reaches of what President Kennedy had envisioned. Krafft Ehricke, if he were here today, would be proud to say that China is seeking to fulfill mankind’s extraterrestrial imperative.

But where must our country, the United States, stand today in this great conquest of space? Not with the destructive policies of President Obama, and the anti-science, anti-human, limits-to-growth agenda at the helm, where there is no vision in sight for the United States. My campaign and initiative is leading the fight to place the United States back on the map in the conquest of space—to fully fund our space program through NASA to unleash our full potential. That fight starts with removing the threats to the true progress of our nation—and the progress of the rest of mankind—beginning with the immediate impeachment of Obama and shutdown of the bankrupt Wall Street system.

This is the voice of leadership from a true American statesman, Lyndon LaRouche, that continues to resound and resonate throughout the world today. Just as Krafft Ehricke understood, Mr. LaRouche has come to define that “Mankind discovers more and more aspects of the universe. Man is composing the universe as he discovers. Mankind is a part of the universe; the self-development of mankind produces more and more categories of development. The Solar System will develop new capabilities for man’s expression. The universe is a process expressed in the self-development of mankind.” This conception of the self-development of mankind in the universe is what has inspired China, and it is why we have a moral imperative to join together in this common aim. Once again, mankind is dedicated to the purpose of discovering mankind’s own true self.

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