World Space Week 2013 Highlights

The world celebrated space from 4 to 10 October 2013,  with a record-breaking 1,420 events in 80 nations.  World Space Week doubled the number of events in comparison to 2012, which was also a record-breaking year!

The 10 nations with the most reported events were:

India       239
France     134
Romania  125
Pakistan  123
Germany 115
Spain      111
Brazil        99
UK            72
USA          34
Israel        24

Below are some highlights of World Space Week 2013:

• India broke all records with over 200 events celebrating World Space Week 2013.
• Mars research demonstrations at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah were linked to over 20 global locations.  The Mars simulations will be managed from the OEWF mission control center in Austria.
• Warner Brothers’ movie “Gravity” opened during World Space Week in theatres globally.  Associated World Space Week events are planned in such places as Melbourne, Australia.
• Pakistan held 147 events in 11 major cities for a truly nationwide celebration of World Space Week 2013 organized by the Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission.
• Organizations across Spain held 76 events to nationally celebrate World Space Week 2013.
• 500 students in Beijing saw Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin at China’s World Space Week opening ceremony on Sept. 25 during the International Astronautical Congress.
• Scholoastic, Mars Institute, and SETI Institute released the book “Mission:  Mars.”
• The Space Foundation celebrated World Space Week with the premiere of NASA’s “Water Falls” film October 10 in Colorado Springs.
• EADS Astrium employees spoke to some 300 schools in UK, France, Germany, and elsewhere continuing the company’s World Space Week outreach tradition.
• Microsoft’s Bing.com featured World Space Week on its home page on October 4.
• The Mexican Space Agency and Committee on Science and Technology of Mexico’s Chamber of Deputies held World Space Week events in 4 cities and 7 other cities plan activities.
• UK held 71 events, many resulting from grants from the UK Association for Science and Discovery Centres.  The National Space Centre in Leicester held hands-on experiments, talks, shows, competitions and special guests on October 5.
• South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology celebrated the theme “Exploring Mars – Discovering Earth” with events in 5 cities.
• ESA’s ESTEC in Noordwijk, the Netherlands opened to the public on October 6.
• Belgium focused on Mars October 4 at the Planetarium of Brussesls and October 9 at Armand Pein Observatory in Ghent.  Belgin astronaut Frank de Winne will participate.
• Bolivia had special tours of the National Astronomical Observatory.
• SpaceUp events in Denver October 3-6 included a space movie night, costume party, and “unconference.”
• Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland celebrated World Space Week 2013 will a full week of special activities.
• Croatia celebrations included telescopes and public presentations at J. J. Strossmayer University.
• Teachers globally used space during World Space Week to inspire children about science, technology, engineering, math, and other subjects.

For the complete global calendar of World Space Week events, see here.

Join the celebration!  Add your World Space Week to the calendar!

World Space Week Association congratulations all participants, volunteers, coordinators, sponsors, and partners for this record-breaking year!