Message forwarded from Dennis Stone - President of World Space Week

To add to Jim's excellent summary below, World Space Week was officially declared in 1999 by the United Nations General Assembly as October 4-10 annually. Groups in 50 nations celebrate it.

I urge everyone to rally around these dates,since we are not going to find a higher authority (at least not on this planet)! See www.spaceweek.org.

Thanks.

Dennis Stone
World Space Week
dstone@...

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What we need is a Congressional Resolution that declares July 20th (the
Apollo 11 anniversary date) as a national day of "recognition" as Space Day.
It would be nice if the U.N. would pass a similar resolution for the entire
world. Please contact your US reps at: http://www.house.gov/writerep/ and

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

AND. . .

In July 1969,
We were a "multi-planet" (or multi-heavenly body, if you prefer,
species) while Eagle was on the moon. It does not really matter which
nationality got to the moon first. I certainly believe that most
Russians and Germans are more mature than that. I have quite a few
European and Asian friends who cherish the Apollo 11 story and
appreciate the incredible significance of July 20, 1969. It is not
lost on these people that Apollo went to the moon on behalf of "all
mankind."

Let's also not forget another significance of July 20 -- in 1976, with the first landing on Mars by Viking 1. . .

FWIW -- Space Day ( http://www.spaceday.com ) was started about 5-7 years ago by Lockheed Martin (and others) to be held near the May 25th State of the Union address by JFK and the commitment to go to the Moon.

Spaceweek ( http://www.spaceweek.org ) was originally started in 1980 by David Baxter (at the time, a student at Utah State University), focusing on the floating week/dates of July 16-24 with July 20th receiving special designation as "Space Day" to commemorate the Apollo 11 mission. Although efforts for a Congressional Resolution over the years have not been successful, various State/Assembly Resolutions and County/City Proclamations have been passed (I happen to have all four framed and hanging in my home office. . .)

The effort grew over the years as a grassroots effort in local communities (including support by the National Space Society, U.S. Space Foundation and Planetary Society, among other pro-space groups) eventually forming a National Spaceweek office in Houston, TX with volunteer staff headed up by Dennis Stone, a JSC employee.

Two years ago -- with the support of the UN -- the Space Week dates were moved to the October timeframe to closely coincide with Columbus Day, as well as commemorating the launch of Sputnik 1 and ratification of the UN Outer Space Treaty (I'm sure the first A-4 [V-2] launch in October '43 is quietly mentioned by some. . .).

Space Week was also moved to October because it was easier to focus efforts and educational activities for schoolchildren -- especially since they're in school at that time of the year -- and are usually taught space curriculum at that time as well in many school districts (I guess it has something to do with old Chris' "voyages of Discovery" -- or so goes the line of thinking by some administrators I've talked to in the past)

One of the drawbacks with the July events in some communities -- and this comes from personal experience in running events when I was stationed at Vandenberg AFB -- is that most kids and their families are on summer vacation elsewhere in the country (not to mention the weather's pretty crummy to be running around in, and the "bigger" event in the U.S. -- 4th of July -- steals some of Apollo 11's thunder. . .).

Rather than focusing on Apollo 11 (and to a lesser extent, Viking 1), the Spaceweek International Association -- formerly National Spaceweek Headquarters -- decided on a more International theme on the uses and benefits of space "for the benefit of all mankind". . .from today's current state of space affairs to tomorrow's plans for Space Elevators, to yesterday's generation of "Major Matt Mason" fans.

It should also be noted that April 12 isn't left out of the equation; besides Mother Russia and her countrymen still acknowledging "Cosmonautics Day," for the past two years, a new effort, called "Yuri's Night" ( http://www.yurisnight.net ) is celebrated on all continents, including Antarctica.

This new event was founded by the Space Frontier Foundation ( http://www.spacefrontierfoundation.org ) with international webcasting assistance provided by Real Networks and other organizations as a one-night "rave-type" party celebrating human achievements in space.

There's still time to get involved with this year's activities -- especially now that here in the U.S. we're at the beginning of a yearlong commemoration on "The Centennial of Flight, as Commissioned by the Congress of the United States" ( http://www.centennialofflight.gov )

And people wonder why I'm not working for NASA Public Affairs. . .(Lord knows I've tried over the past year; somebody else always keeps getting picked instead. . .which is why I'm going back on the Air Force's payroll as a civilian PAO for now).

Regards,
Jim Spellman
NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY
Western Spaceport Chapter
http://www.hometown.aol.com/wspaceport/Welcome.html
http://www.nss.org