Sacrifice of the King: Kennedy and the Transition of Civilization into Technical Inertia Mode

The article offers an ontological interpretation of the Apollo space program through the prism of the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. It argues that this event should be understood not merely as a political or historical incident, but as a metaphysical rupture point in which the relationship between action, meaning, and technological inertia of civilization fundamentally changes. The transformation of the space program from a meaning-oriented project into an autonomous technical system is analyzed. The concept of “ontological orphanhood” is introduced to describe the condition of modern civilization characterized by a growing gap between the capacity for action and the ability to ascribe meaning to it. The space program is further interpreted as a test of the integrity of human existence within a technological environment.