The United Nations established World Space Week (WSW) in 1999 as an annual “international celebration of science and technology, and their contribution to improving the human condition.”
The dates were selected to commemorate two important events in space history: the launch of Sputnik 1, the first manmade earth satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957, and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty on Oct. 10, 1967.
This year’s WSW theme is “Remote Sensing: Enabling Our Future,” celebrating earth observation from space for activities such as land use mapping and agricultural monitoring.
World Space Week consists of space education and outreach events held by space agencies, aerospace companies, schools, planetariums, museums, and astronomy clubs around the world. During WSW 2015, 1,877 events were held in 73 countries.
