World Space Week
The United Nations General Assembly first declared October 4-10 to be World Space Week in 1999. It had been celebrated in July before that by a smaller group of space fans to commemorate the first people from Earth to walk on the Moon in 1969. But as more and more countries became involved in various aspects of space exploration, by 1999 it was time to make it a global event.
This year the theme is “Space and Sustainability,” and there are literally hundreds of events across the globe to celebrate the week. From Algeria’s “Open Doors on the Universe” to Space Week Zambia, from Croatia’s more than forty events, Angola’s eight events, and the Royal Astronomical Society’s “Fly Me to the Moon” storytelling event, space fans in dozens of countries can find many ways to celebrate and get involved.
Australia has eleven events, including one that is dear to our hearts: “Space Storytime,” when, according to their website, “The Australian Space Discovery Centre invites all little astronauts to join us in person for space storytime. Each session will begin with a reading of a space book.”
We can’t think of a better way to engage with World Space Week! To that end, we offer all astronauts across the globe (and beyond if anyone out there cares to take advantage of the offer) a brilliant short novel, The Spires of Denon, in bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s multiple-award-winning series the Diving Universe.