In the Stars, the Long Awaited Age of Reason
There, in the stars, lies the long awaited Age of Reason, when our species sheds at last the cultural residue of the beast.
—Lyndon LaRouche
[Print version of this article]
April 24—In less than three weeks, the most critical international conference in the period since World War II—the Beijing Belt and Road summit—will convene. On May 14 and 15, the leaders and heads of state of 28 nations will gather, joined by representatives of 110 countries, industry leaders, business leaders, and others. It has already been announced that Russia’s President Putin will be the first guest of honor at the conference.
During the last three years, an invitation has been repeatedly extended to the United States to take up the offer of Chinese President Xi Jinping for win-win cooperation, to join in the great economic development perspective of the Belt and Road, for the benefit of all nations involved. This offer was first made to former President Obama in 2014, but was summarily rejected by the British-run Wall Street stooge who was then occupying the White House. Obama chose geopolitical confrontation over working with China and other nations for the good of mankind.
Now a new opportunity has presented itself. President Trump has expressed serious interest in, and has already taken initial steps toward developing a friendly working relationship with China, as was demonstrated in his recent discussions with President Xi at Mar-a-Lago, Florida. Again, the offer of “win-win” peaceful cooperation has been put forth, this time to President Trump. The opportunity now before the United States is very real. Were America to seize this opportunity, the murderous banking and financial looting policies of London and Wall Street might be replaced with a future of expanded economic opportunity, peace, and scientific progress. Those are the implications of accepting China’s offer to join in a commitment to the common aims of mankind through win-win cooperation. If President Trump were to announce his intention to attend the Belt and Road conference in May, this alone would be a singular action that could well shift the entire global picture.
Not least in importance, greater collaboration with the nations of the Belt and Road will give great impetus and greatly enhanced potential for joint efforts in science, particularly cooperative work toward the exploration and development of space. With full U.S. participation, a leap for all of mankind in space exploration becomes immediately and rapidly possible.
The Optimism of Space
On Monday, April 24, President Trump spoke with astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS). He was joined in the Oval Office by his daughter Ivanka and astronaut Kate Rubins, and together they spoke with NASA ISS Commander Peggy Whitson and Col. Jack Fischer. The dialogue between the ISS astronauts and the President was broadcast live into hundreds of classrooms and space facilities around the United States, and was streamed and viewed worldwide as well.
The President honored Commander Whitson for her achievements as the first female commander of the ISS and for having spent more time in space than any other American astronaut. Their discussion touched on several topics, including a report from Whitson on the need to understand how microgravity works in space and how it effects the human body. She also reported that ISS astronauts are studying the problems of long-duration space missions, and the technological advances that will be required. More than 200 scientific experiments are currently underway aboard the space station.
Col. Fischer stressed the critical importance of international cooperation in space exploration. He talked about his trip to the ISS aboard the Soyuz with his Russian counterpart, veteran Cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin. Col. Fischer said, “The international space station is, by far, the best example of international cooperation and what we can do when we work together, in the history of humanity.”
Both American astronauts were explicit about the optimism and inspiration that participation in this mission has given them. This was demonstrated most beautifully by Col. Fischer, when he said, “I would say to all the students that are watching, the time to get excited is now. If you aren’t studying science and math, you might want to think about that, because our future in the stars starts now, and you can be a part of that, if, like Dr. Whitson, you can find that passion and work really hard. And we’re going to find a permanent foothold in the stars for humanity if you do that.”
The Role of the Visionary
On March 25, the Schiller Institute held an extraordinary conference in Munich, Germany, to honor the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of the great space pioneer Krafft Ehricke. Under the banner of “Krafft Ehricke’s Vision for the Future of Mankind,” Ehricke’s prime thesis that there are no limitations to the progress of mankind in the Universe was celebrated and discussed. As if a divine hand had intervened, on the very day of that conference, President Trump gave his truly inspiring national address, in which he declared, after signing the NASA Authorization Act, “With this legislation, we renew our national commitment to NASA’s mission of exploration and discovery. And we continue a tradition that is as old as mankind. We look to the heavens with wonder and curiosity.”
If we are to take up this challenge today, it is of paramount importance that every American fully grasp the critical importance of this effort on behalf of all mankind, for the necessary future of all. It must also be a shared commitment. All nations—all of humanity—must benefit from the cooperation among nations for the peaceful use and development of outer space. This is the ultimate win-win solution for all nations. It can be realized through crash programs, what Lyndon LaRouche has described as “the tight integration of the most advanced, most fundamental scientific research with the production and development of new technologies in a general way, such that there is no organizational separation between the most fundamental scientific research and production in general.”
The Time to Act Is Now
Many initiatives are already underway. On April 22, China celebrated its second annual national space day by carrying out the docking of the Tianzhou 1 supply ship with China’s Tianzhou 2 space lab, 240 miles above the Earth. Two days later—the same day that President Trump spoke with the ISS astronauts—China celebrated the anniversary of China’s first space satellite, launched on April 24, 1970.
Full participation by the United States in the upcoming Beijing Belt and Road Summit would have the immediate effect of advancing this progress dramatically. This is just what is needed. A new future beckons, one in which the legacy of war, zero growth, and cultural decay will become a memory. Bold action now will make the difference for future generations.
