For All Mankind

 

The Catholic Times in its Reconciliation Column has a    article by a  Research Fellow at the  Catholic Institute for Northeast Asia Peace.

These days, the columnist is watching IPTV dramas. The title is 'For All Mankind'. The title was so grandiose that at first he thought it was a sci-fiction drama in which all people on Earth unite and fight against an alien invasion, but the content was far from that. 

 

Set against the backdrop of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) of the United States, it contains the precarious lives of astronauts and their families, the process of space development that was conducted competitively with the Soviet Union.

 

The drama shows the process from 1969, when space development began, with various videos, audio, and various props, which the  Americans might find very impressive. A large part of the content also contains competition for space development with the Soviet Union, which will  stimulate one's patriotism. Among the Apollo astronauts in the United States, there were many who actually participated in the Korean War as air force pilots. 

 

The drama begins with the successful landing of a Soviet manned spacecraft on the moon disappointing the Americans. After the Soviet Union's Alexei Leonov succeeded first, American newspapers began to call for a response from the US government calling the moon the 'Red Moon'. After that, NASA, a latecomer, prepares for a second manned landing with Apollo 11 and begins to follow the Soviet Union. 

 

In the process, politics constantly intervenes, and scientific innocence mixes with the military aspect and conflicts. When a lithium ore was discovered on the moon, a military clash between the US and the Soviet Union over it also occurred. Afterwards, scenes of the United States and the Soviet Union competing even to explore Mars appear in succession. 

 

He has been thinking a lot while watching this drama. The title of the drama is said to be taken from the commemorative phrase of Apollo 11: "We came for the purpose of peace for all mankind." However, in the drama, they are fighting over the lithium ore. All things start with the grandeur of 'for the sake of mankind', but in the process of progress, the conflict for the interests of one’s own country continues. 

 

We wonder when the time will come when the prophet Isaiah spoke of "The wolf lives with the lamb, the panther lies down with the goat, and the calf and lion eat together with a little boy to lead them (Isa 11:6). In the drama, we went to the moon and fought, but what will happen in reality? If we leave Earth and go to another planet, won't we fight?