The International Space Year (ISY) was 1992, the year of the quincentenary of Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Americas in 1492. First proposed by U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga, the designation of 1992 as International Space Year was endorsed by 18 national and international space agencies, who also proposed the year's theme, "Mission to Planet Earth". Eventually, 29 national space agencies and 10 international organizations took part in coordinated activities to promote space exploration and the use of sustainable technology on Earth. [1] [2]
The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space agreed to recognize the International Space Year to promote peaceful cooperation between nations during its 1990 session. [3] United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, addressing the World Space Congress in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1992, said, "One of the central goals of International Space year is to highlight the importance of understanding the Earth as a single, complex, interdependent system and to stress the unique role that space science and technology can play in promoting that understanding." [1] Given that the year 1992 marked the anniversary of 500 years of genocide around the world, it is important to note the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations requested the United Nations recognize 1992 as the International Year of the World's Indigenous People. [4] However, the colonial nations of the Americas and Spain blocked the request as they had plans to celebrate the Quincentenary of Columbus' voyage. [5] The United States featured a poster celebrating 1992 as the International Space Year in which, as described by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: "Movie character 'ET' embraces earth; on horizon shows progression of exploring vehicles from [C]olumbus' ships to present." [6] It celebrates Columbus' voyage, indicating the Columbian legacy was viewed as an inspiration for the future of space travel. [7]
International Space Year was celebrated by 29 space agencies in various countries with the purpose of establishing peaceful international relations in space programs. [1] [3] International Space Year conferences were held regularly in many nations.
In Australia, many public events were organized to augment public awareness of space by the National Space Society chapters of Australia. CSIRO led the "Mission to Planet Earth" Land Cover Change project, using satellites to study plant life on Earth in relation to climate and civilization. CSIRO and various Australian Universities also studied the ocean using European and Japanese satellites. Additionally, a series of commemorative stamps was issued by the Australia Post for International Space Year. [8]
In Tokyo, Japan, a conference—the Asia-Pacific International Space Year Conference—was held to discuss the "Mission to Planet Earth" theme and international cooperation. [9]
In Russia, the Foundation for Social Inventions launched Space Flight Europe-America 500 in an attempt to promote a peaceful social and economic relationship between the former Soviet states and the United States of America. Space Flight Europe-America 500 consisted of a Proton rocket carrying various items symbolizing peace, which orbited the Earth for a few days. [10] The space craft was scheduled to land near Washington in late November. Its cost was estimated by Russian authorities at over US$200 million. [11]
In the United States, NASA, which led the US space agencies, [2] responded to ISY with the completion or creation of many important space programs, including numerous collaborations with other domestic and international space agencies. A total of twelve programmes were launched, the most in any year up to that point. NASA focused particularly on projects — such as the Mars Observer , which studied the atmosphere and climate of Mars — that examined the possibility of sustaining human life outside Earth, as well as those exploring problems that existed on Earth at the time. [12] ISY was also recognized with the opening of a new exhibit, entitled "Where Next, Columbus?" at the National Air and Space Museum. [13]
Alternative rock band They Might Be Giants were designated by NASA as the "Musical Ambassador" of the International Space Year when they were searching the NASA archives for images for their album, Apollo 18 . The title of the album came directly from the NASA Apollo program —the last mission of which was Apollo 17. [14] Accordionist and singer/songwriter John Linnell jokingly speculated that an album named Apollo 18 would be a cheaper alternative to actually manning a flight to the Moon as part of the International Space Year, although the album title was selected prior to the band's involvement with ISY. [15] In support of the celebration, the album's back cover artwork and some promotional materials feature the International Space Year logo. Linnell explained that "[the band is] supposed to be included on lists of events happening in connection with International Space Year...In other words, on a particular month they'll say in some town there's this lecture about space telescopes and then there's this They Might Be Giants concert." [16] On a different occasion, however, he pointed out that he "[didn't] think most people have heard that this is International Space Year". [17]
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It orbits at an average distance of 384,400 km (238,900 mi), about 30 times the diameter of Earth. Over time Earth's gravity has caused tidal locking, causing the same side of the Moon to always face Earth. Because of this, the lunar day and the lunar month are the same length, at 29.5 Earth days. The Moon's gravitational pull – and to a lesser extent, the Sun's – are the main drivers of Earth's tides.
Space exploration is the use of astronomy and space technology to explore outer space. While the exploration of space is currently carried out mainly by astronomers with telescopes, its physical exploration is conducted both by uncrewed robotic space probes and human spaceflight. Space exploration, like its classical form astronomy, is one of the main sources for space science.
Spaceflight is an application of astronautics to fly objects, usually spacecraft, into or through outer space, either with or without humans on board. Most spaceflight is uncrewed and conducted mainly with spacecraft such as satellites in orbit around Earth, but also includes space probes for flights beyond Earth orbit. Such spaceflight operate either by telerobotic or autonomous control. The more complex human spaceflight has been pursued soon after the first orbital satellites and has reached the Moon and permanent human presence in space around Earth, particularly with the use of space stations. Human spaceflight programs include the Soyuz, Shenzhou, the past Apollo Moon landing and the Space Shuttle programs. Other current spaceflight are conducted to the International Space Station and to China's Tiangong Space Station.
The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II and had its peak with the more particular Moon Race to land on the Moon between the US moonshot and Soviet moonshot programs. The technological advantage demonstrated by spaceflight achievement was seen as necessary for national security and became part of the symbolism and ideology of the time. The Space Race brought pioneering launches of artificial satellites, robotic space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately to the Moon.
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Apollo–Soyuz was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union in July 1975. Millions of people around the world watched on television as an American Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. The project, and its handshake in space, was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers during the Cold War.
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Apollo 18 is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants. It was released in 1992 through Elektra Records and was named after the cancelled Apollo 18 mission that was scheduled to have followed Apollo 17. The album was also associated with International Space Year, for which They Might Be Giants were declared the official "musical ambassadors" by NASA.
The Constellation program was a crewed spaceflight program developed by NASA, the space agency of the United States, from 2005 to 2009. The major goals of the program were "completion of the International Space Station" and a "return to the Moon no later than 2020" with a crewed flight to the planet Mars as the ultimate goal. The program's logo reflected the three stages of the program: the Earth (ISS), the Moon, and finally Mars—while the Mars goal also found expression in the name given to the program's booster rockets: Ares. The technological aims of the program included the regaining of significant astronaut experience beyond low Earth orbit and the development of technologies necessary to enable sustained human presence on other planetary bodies.
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A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as loose material and rocks. These samples may be obtained in a number of ways, such as soil and rock excavation or a collector array used for capturing particles of solar wind or cometary debris. Nonetheless, concerns have been raised that the return of such samples to planet Earth may endanger Earth itself.
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The Space Exploration Initiative was a 1989–1993 space public policy initiative of the George H. W. Bush administration.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958, it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give the U.S. space development effort a distinctly civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science. It has since led most American space exploration, including Project Mercury, Project Gemini, the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle. It currently supports the International Space Station and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the crewed lunar Artemis program, the Commercial Crew spacecraft, and the planned Lunar Gateway space station.
In archaeology, space archaeology is the research-based study of various human-made items found in space, their interpretation as clues to the adventures humanity has experienced in space, and their preservation as cultural heritage.
The space policy of the United States includes both the making of space policy through the legislative process, and the implementation of that policy in the United States' civilian and military space programs through regulatory agencies. The early history of United States space policy is linked to the US–Soviet Space Race of the 1960s, which gave way to the Space Shuttle program. At the moment, the US space policy is aimed at the exploration of the Moon and the subsequent colonization of Mars.
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For All Moonkind, Inc. is a volunteer international nonprofit organization which is working with the United Nations and the international community to manage the preservation of history and human heritage in outer space. The organization believes that the lunar landing sites and items from space missions are of great value to the public and is pushing the United Nations to create rules that will protect lunar items and secure heritage sites on the Moon and other celestial bodies. Protection is necessary as many nations and companies are planning on returning to the Moon, and it is not difficult to imagine the damage an autonomous vehicle or an errant astronaut—an explorer, colonist or tourist—could to one of the Moon landing sites, whether intentionally or unintentionally.