Mission Countdown 2017

April 3-The LaRouche movement celebrated the 100th birthday of German-American space pioneer Krafft Ehricke last week. During the week-long tribute to his life and work, we made available a number of his writings and videos, and our presentations gave insight into Ehricke's visionary ideas of mankind's unlimited potential for growth and development throughout the Universe. The celebration included a remarkable conference in Munich, Germany, under the joint sponsorship of the Fusion Energy Forum and the Schiller Institute, titled "Realizing Krafft Ehricke's Vision for the Future of Mankind." This issue of EIR prints some of the conference presentations, thereby continuing last week's theme in an issue dedicated to Ehricke and titled "What is Science?" On March 25, during the week of celebration, President Trump gave a speech- one that most Americans missed-as one of his Saturday morning addresses, that should have dominated the media airwaves. This five-minute address followed his signing of the NASA Transition Authorization Act by just a few days. Apparently none of the major media reported on this very important speech. Instead, they were overwhelmingly focussed on increasingly attacking the President and creating more mass hysteria with fake news of Russian hacking and healthcare failure. Meanwhile, you were denied the opportunity to witness and be moved by this inspiring address, given by the President to "renew our national commitment to NASA's mission of exploration and discovery." In his short speech, the President declares, "This week, in the company of astronauts, I was honored to sign the NASA Transition Authorization Act . . . 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." This renewed commitment to exploration and discovery spoke to the very principles that the great visionary Ehricke championed for the greater part of his life, as he continued to develop his ideas and vision for the future of mankind in the universe. The international conference in Munich included prominent speakers on perspectives and prospects for science, technology, and space exploration.