Our Future in Space

Our Future in Space (con.)

Additionally, think about the potential impact on the attitude of people on the Earth toward ecology when the total ecology mind set of the space colonist is fostered in those people still living on the earth. In space we must conserve, we know that we are living on a spaceship. That attitude of conservation may well spread back to the Earth with people more readily accepting the concept of "Spaceship Earth" with the limited resources that implies.

One final thought deals with the impact of seeing the Earth as a globe from space. We know that some people, if not all, are greatly inspired by this view and come away "knowing" just how precious and fragile our environment is. There is a good chance that as more and more of us get this view, the impact on how we should be treating the Earth will be spread to others and, again, the concept of "Spaceship Earth" will spread and have an extremely positive impact on the issues of ecology, and conservation.

God has given us the spirit worthy of the challenges that He sets for us and we set for ourselves. He has given us the knowledge we need to find our way, so that the results of our reaching will lead to the betterment of life here and now. As a people, both individually and collectively, we can move forward into a new day that has been shaped by the combined minds of millions of individuals concentrating on this positive future. We must speak of the power to make of the Earth, the birthplace of humanity, a garden again as we accept the challenge to explore and settle the greatest frontier of all time, the infinite frontier, the universe itself.

The images that have the greatest effect, are those images that are positive, challenging, and goal oriented. What image is more positive, more challenging, and more goal oriented than the image of the destiny of humanity to discover, explore, and settle the universe. It is up to each of us to spread this image; our government and institutions cannot lead us on this great adventure into the infinite frontier. They, by their nature, only mirror ideas and feelings that already exist in society. If we are going to create a new vision, then it must grow within each of us. It must grow from the fertile soil composed of strong confident individuals exercising their free voice within the community to work for the future we see as our destiny, to create and share the vision we have of a nation, a world, a universe that we would like to live in.

To end, I'd like you to take an imaginary trip with me. Think about a time when you visited an historical site, like Jerusalem or Boston, Sutter's Fort, Gettysburg, or maybe Kitty Hawk, any place of an historical beginning. Think about the people who lived then and how they felt about the events that took place there.

Now, imagine that you're in a classroom or lecture hall in a city on a planet 25 light years from the Earth. The year is 2522 (about 500 years in the future) and the instructor has just asked the class to identify the original world of the human race. A holographic map of the galaxy appears in the air at the center of the class. You raise your hand. The instructor nods at you, and, using the joystick attached to your desk computer, you move a "flying pointer" through the stars of the galaxy to identify Sol, the sun around which the original planet Earth revolves.

The instructor congratulates you, touches a button on her chair and the hologram view zooms into this single star. You see the ten planets as they revolve in their orbits around it. Again, she looks at you and says, "which of these planets is the Earth?"

You point to the third plant from the sun, and again the view zooms in. Before you is a brilliant jewel of a world. A world with a magnificent single moon, almost a twin planet system. The beauty of this world takes your breath away. You and the rest of the class have, of course, seen many pictures of the Earth, but you never fail to feel a sense of awe and deep reverence whenever you look at it.

After a moment of silence the instructor speaks to the class:

It was only a little over five and a half centuries ago that humanity first stepped off of the planet Earth and onto another world. That world was the Earth's only moon, and looking back, the step seems to be a small one, only 200,000 plus miles, just a little over what light travels in one second. But remember, until that time (for over 100,000 years) humanity was not able to leave that world; it did not have the knowledge or the means. That moment was the most important moment in our history, the time when it became possible to explore beyond the surface of that single planet, to realize our destiny of bringing life to cold empty worlds, to live in the universe.

What a time to have been alive! What I wouldn't give to have been there on the Earth at that time. Just think of the adventure, the vision, the sense of destiny that must have existed....

The instructor goes on, but the rest of the class is lost in her basic question...What was it like to have been alive when humanity first set foot on another world? What was it like to have been alive when humanity first set out to explore and settle the universe?

Those are the feelings and thoughts that countless generations will have as they think back to the second half of the twentieth century and wonder how it felt to live during that special moment in history when humanity took that first step off Mother Earth and onto another world.

As Mecca is to the Muslim and Jerusalem is to the Christian and Jew, so the Earth will be to future generations of humanity, the place from which we sprang, the holiest of holys for all time.

There is no question that the technology developed will benefit humanity in ways few of us can imagine today, that within this dream is the best possible solution to our energy problems, and that the vision given our society by a goal such as this can only lead to a positive, challenging future.

I believe that we will accept this challenge, that we will ultimately go into space because it is our destiny, and the pull of that destiny is too strong to be ignored.

THE END