Celebrate World Space Week: October 4 – 10
Posted by Sarah W on October 02, 2012
The International Space Station (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Space exploration may be something we take for granted these days. With all the exciting research and photos from the Curiosity Rover and other expeditions, it’s hard to remember a time before we were making strides in space. But, in fact, the start of the Space Age was just 55 years ago with the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. There has been a lot of progress since then, and now, educators and space enthusiasts around the world are coming together to celebrate World Space Week from October 4 -10.
More than 50 nations celebrate World Space Week through a variety of public events and space-themed activities. Your child might be celebrating in school with fun info and activities from NASA’s Educational Resources page. And if you’re craving a space adventure, check out the resources to see how you can enrich your family’s week with space age fun. Plus, your family has an awesome opportunity to join in NASA’s celebrations. NASA’s Digital Learning Network (DLN) is hosting 3 special events in honor of World Space Week on October 4, 9, and 10.
This year, the theme of the week is “Space for Human Safety and Security,” celebrating the many ways that human activities in space have improved our daily lives. That goes beyond the strange yet tasty Astronaut ice cream. Earth observation, navigation and telecommunication satellites in space are used every day to protect us and our environment. They do a lot of work for us that we don’t even realize, and World Space Week aims to highlight and celebrate those contributions.
Get an inside look at missions and more by joining NASA’s Digital Learning Network. You’ll get free access to interactive learning events and webcasts that will get you front row seats to some cool space adventures.
You won’t want to miss these online NASA events during World Space Week:
Thursday, October 4 at 12:30 p.m. EDT (11:30 a.m. Central Time) – Celebrate the landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland. The live event will explore NASA’s latest rover on the Red Planet and students will learn from NASA experts about how both centers contributed to the mission.
Tuesday, October 9 at 3:30 p.m. EDT (2:30 p.m. Central Time) – This is a chance for students to interact with experts from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California and discuss their questions about the Curiosity mission and more. This is designed for an entire class to participate in, so if your child is in school this might be worth suggesting to the teacher.
Wednesday, October 10 at 6 p.m. EDT (5 p.m. Central Time) – Here’s a second chance at discussion with the experts from NASA about the Curiosity mission and more. Visit the DLN website to get involved.
You can also follow @WorldSpaceWeek on Twitter for up-to-date info on everything that’s happening.
With all the rainy days we’ve been having, you could fill a rainy afternoon watching a space-exploring movie. Some fun and inspiring ones that come to mind are: October Sky, Apollo 13, The Astronaut Farmer, and WALL-E.
And for little ones, you can explore more crafty, hands-on space activities at Funschool.com.
How will your family celebrate World Space Week?
