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WORLD SPACE WEEK / 2001
4-11 October 2001 • We will bring our Vision to the World!
Think Globally —Act Locally!

Be a part of a World-Wide Effort
The National Space Society, in conjunction with organizations around the world, is a participating sponsor of World Space Week, 4 October to 10 October.

Declared in 1999 by the United Nations General Assembly, World Space Week marks the anniversary of great milestones of humanity’s expansion into space. Specifically commemorating the beginning of the Space Age (the 45th anniversary of the orbiting of the first man-made satellite, Sputnik), Work Space Week is dedicated to raising public awareness by synchronizing many events to create a global news story focused on these goals:
• Educating people around the world about the benefits they receive from space
• Encouraging greater use of space for sustainable economic development
• Demonstrating public support for space programs
• Exciting children about learning and their future
• Promoting institutions around the world that are involved in space
• Fostering international cooperation in space outreach and education

An opportunity to act locally for a global effect.

NSS has committed to synchronize the efforts of hundreds of NSS Members and chapters. NSS Members and Chapters are encouraged to plan and participate in a World Space Week activity of their own choosing, in their own communities, to inform their neighbors about the impact that space has already had on our civilization in the years since Sputnik, and the importance of Humans in Space.

There are several obvious tie-ins for 2001:
• First, there is the movie 2001 with its image of thriving space settlements in earth orbit and on the moon. Members and others can use this image as an example of what’s possible, and talk about the events that have pushed those settlements farther into the future (and how and why the public should support steps to bring them into reality).
• The recently published NSS Roadmap to Space offers a useful framework for talking about these issues.
• When World Space Week arrives, it will be very close to the first anniversary of the activation of the International Space Station.
• Finally, this year marks the 40th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight, which opened the age of human presence in space, and the 20th anniversary of the first reusable spacecraft flight.

These possible “focal points” are only a few suggestions of what any chapter or individual NSS member could build an activity around, but they illustrate the opportunity that lies before us this year. There has never been a better opportunity for NSS to communicate its message! The important thing is not the activity you choose — but that TOGETHER at World Space Week we each act locally to increase global awareness of the importance of humanities future in space.

Bring the Vision of Humans in Space to your community!
Every individual NSS Member, space enthusiast and activist has an opportunity to share the vision of our future in space. There are plenty of ways individuals can participate in World Space Week. Here are a few ideas:
• Write a letter to the your national leaders and legislators and /or local newspaper expressing your view of the importance of humans in space for our future.
• Contact your local school and arrange to make a presentation on “Humans in Space.” For more information go to www.nss.org, click on “Knowledge” and select “Space Educator.”
• Donate a gift subscription of Ad Astra to your local public or school library.
• Set up a “Humans in Space” display in a high traffic public place.
• Start a new NSS chapter in your area, or join an existing chapter
These are only a few suggestions, but they are some of the most popular. NSS has received notes from individual members indicating that they will be conducting one or more of these activities. Your project can be as big or as small as you desire. Remember, projects don’t have to be big to have an impact. As the old union marching song says, “Many drops can turn a mill — singly, none.” The activity of each individual contributes to moving all of us forward.

Let us know what YOU will be doing!

Chapters or Groups can plan for larger World Space Week activities.
Many NSS chapters are already planning events for World Space Week. The NSS World Space Week Committee will publish a list of possible activities for chapters and will be at the Project Brainstorming Session at the International Space Development Conference this May to share project ideas. Chapters and groups of members are encouraged to design their own projects and events best suited to bring the NSS Vision to their community. Meanwhile, here is a brief list of activities planned by some chapters:
• The Oklahoma Space Alliance will host an information/recruiting booth at a local mall.
• NSS-NYC plans to co-host an event at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City. Tentative plans include a showing of 2001 and a panel discussion about the 1960s vision of the future.
• Down under, a number of chapters have planned events, including the Central Coast Space Frontier Society who have scheduled various events a few days later due to a school holiday. 11 October will feature an Astronaut at the Laycock Street Theater and 13 October the Central Coast Space Expo at the Central Coast campus of Newcastle University.
• Seattle NSS is planning to tape a panel discussion about the lack of public interest in space and how to change it, to be offered to Public Access TV stations around the country.
• The Orange County Space Society, headquartered in Irvine, California, will promote World Space Week 2001 at their Space Tourism Expo during the Labor Day weekend 31 August – 3 September 2001 at the Pasadena Convention Center. It will feature exhibits, speakers, vendors, and much more from all aspects of space exploration with a focus on getting people into space through tourism activities such as zero-g flights, astronaut training programs, sub-orbital and orbital flights, etc.
• NSS DC-L5 in the Washington, D.C., area has taped a special TV talk show featuring a panel of experts discussing the importance of Space Tourism, to be aired on cable TV during World Space Week. Copies of the tape will be available.

Tell us what you plan and what you do —
Be eligible for special prizes, including a trip to ISDC2002 in Denver.
It is important that we be able to promote NSS activities as extensively as possible in advance of World Space Week. In order to do so, we need you to let us know what you plan to be doing in your community. In the same way, following World Space Week Ad Astra will feature a special report on NSS World Space Week activities, so we will need to hear from you after your project is complete.
Obviously, we can’t do this unless we hear from all of you about what you did. Therefore, to encourage chapters and individual members to report their planned and completed activities we are offering a number of incentive prizes for participation.
• Each individual who submits a report (received no later than 15 November 2001) will have their name entered in a drawing, three times.
• In order to be included in the drawing, individuals must submit a brief report including a description of the project or event, the number of people involved (workers and attendees) and the results, along with their name, address, telephone number and email address.
• Photographs are encouraged and, if submitted, should be accompanied by a caption identifying the people in the picture. Photographs will become property of NSS and be considered for publication in Ad Astra.
• Chapters who report their activity should include a list of the chapter members who participated in their project so that each of the individuals will be entered in the prize drawing.
• Reports must be sent by email to NSSPublicAffairs@aol.com.

Grand prize is a trip to the International Space Development Conference in Denver on Memorial Day weekend, 2002 — full registration, 3 nights hotel and up to $400.00 for roundtrip airfare. An $800.00 value! Additional prizes will include VHS or DVD copies of Tom Hanks’ award-winning HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon and copies of Buzz Aldrin’s latest novel The Return. Plan NOW for an activity
in your community!
Select the best 4-10 October activity for you and your community now, and let us know what you have planned. Be a part of this important opportunity to act locally in your community and, with the thousands of others, around the world, have a global impact. For more information, comments, questions and suggestions, email NSSPublicAffairs@aol.com.
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