By Zika Bobby
Ikorodu-born United States-based lawyer and politician, Chief Owolabi Salis, blazed a historic trail as he recently became the first Nigerian to travel to space above the Karman line, the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space, located at an altitude of 100 kilometres (62 miles) above sea level. He had earlier also made history as the first black African to travel to the extreme polar divide of the North and South poles.
The Blue Origin, which took the history-making astronauts on the eventful flight, touched back on a grand arrival from the epic space adventure at the tarmac of the exotic space village in Western Texas, as they ran into the warm embrace of friends, families and well-wishers.
Salis, the only black among the crew of astronauts, basking in radiance, resplendent in his finicky astronaut fatigues, emerged from the spaceship in the full glare of the cynosural universe of global watchers, amid the ambience of the sprawling grandeur and beauty of the exotic space village, announcing his unforgettable historic involvement, which he dedicated to the victims of discrimination and civil rights violations.
He was seen with an African-made cap donned over the astronaut jacket, as a patriotic gesture deliberately calculated to generate campaigns for greater participation of Africans in the exploration of space science and technology.
The Blue Origin identity for the group is NS-33 and the group name is Solstice-33.
“Space is a humbling place. All those leaders causing troubles on this planet should be sent to space; they will be humbled and sober,” he said.
The six-member NS-33 crew, comprised Allie Kuehner, Carl Kuehner, Jim Sitkin, Freddie Rescigno, Jr., Leland Larson and Salis.
He described the experience as “extremely humbling, stupefying and emotionally overwhelming as I gaped in wonderment, beholding the universe in its awe-inspiring splendour, and delightsome cosmic spectacle, with its eerie music resonating in surreal esctasy teleporting the soul to heights.”
“It was indeed for me a great eye-opener, widening my vista, drawing me closer, more than ever before, towards my maker, the invisible one, whose creative mind had fashioned the inscrutable mystery of the universe,” said Salis, the spiritual leader of Soul Maker’s Ministry Worldwide.
The scholar and author of the classic book on “Equitocracy – a Diversity-based democracy,” who earlier had made history as the first black African to travel to the extreme polar divide of the North and South poles, described the outer-space adventure as a diametrically different experience and simply out of this world.
He said: “It is an event which is better experienced than imagined.
“In embarking on this epic adventure, I am also inspired by the motive to fire the imagination of fellow Africans and blacks in diaspora, on the limitless possibilities endemic in the black race as a whole; to awaken every member of this highly endowed species of the homo-sapiens, particularly the governments of black nations across the global universe, to awake from age-old slumber and join the global mainstream of super-power nations in lifting the world of science and technology, particularly the science of space travel, to greater frontiers, for greater racial esteem and accelerated tempo of development within the larger macrocosm of the black world.”
Delving into his spiritual discovery, Salis said: “I went to space on a spiritual journey. What I found very interesting was that I was floating like a bird as I beheld the sprawling vastness of space and our planet supernaturally suspended on the atmosphere, with no discernible extraneous force, at least naked to the physical eyes, holding it.
“That is amazingly mysterious. I went on spiritual pilgrimage for inspiration and spiritual research on the mystery of the soul, mystery of existence and the mystery of the universe, and I think I found at least a little hint of answers to my sacred quest.
” If our planet could be revolving so persistently in respect to a definite pattern or order, then a spirit being must certainly be in charge. I believe fully now that the spirit being, the Almighty Lord, or Controller of the Universe, inextricably dwelling in us and connected with our souls is the right being to worship and nothing else.
“Again, it seems that this Omnipotent Controller of the Universe may necessarily not be the same as those misconstruely being misrepresented in many religious books on our planet. Another point of deep introspection in the course of my research was, where do the souls that drive and propel us come from, and where do they go when we die?
“One thing that is clear in all this is that whoever is responsible for our planet has set ample examples in nature, worthy of emulation, to solving the multi-faceted nature of problems and concerns as might confront us at one time or the other in the voyage of life.
“If you are busy perpetrating your magic on our planet, boasting in it as the ultimate of all powers, you will be disappointed to know that your power is nothing in space and you are just nobody. This indeed goes to pinpoint the supremacy of our Creator, who made all things, and our absolute powerlessness to question his authority.
“All those leaders who thrive in causing trouble and fomenting chaos and crisis at all times should be sent to space to live just for one day. They will surely be humbled because space is a humbling place that offers quite a pretty sobering experience.
“And all those religious leaders and magicians out there, going about propagating tissues of vanities, should be sent to space to realize that the only Spirit Being worthy of praise is The Almighty Lord of the Universe, the Lord of Diversity and the Maker and Owner of all souls. This is not the same being as described in many religious books.”