Everything to Know about World Space Week 2019

World Space Week is an international STEM celebration that is being celebrated since 1999. It's held between October 4-10 every year. The dates commemorate two events; October 4, 1957, launch of Sputnik 1, which is the first human-made Earth satellite and October 10, 1967, the signing of the Outer Space Treaty. 

Space agencies, aerospace companies, schools, planetaria, museums and astronomy clubs around the world throw space education and outreach events all around the world in the name of the week.

One of the biggest aims of World Space Week is to educate people around the world about space, excite young people about STEM, demonstrate public support for space programs and demonstrate that space is far more easy to reach than before. 

Every year a different theme is determined for the week and synchronized space events about the same theme take place all around the world. This year's theme for World Space Week was "The Moon: Gateway to the Stars." Many different countries celebrated the week with events mainly about the Moon.

India organized a Lunar Photo Contest for the week while Japan organized an event called "Introducing Space Flight Attendant" to mention the operations of space flight attendants.

Lebanon planned movie nights, in which Interstellar was screened for the week. In Lithuania, 6th-grade students during science lessons played "Jeopardy" to test their knowledge about the Moon and space. 

SEE ALSO: HOW MANY MISSIONS HAVE BEEN TO THE MOON?

Since the theme of this year's World Space Week was Moon and it's the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first man on the Moon, the Space Agency of Paraguay together with UNIDA, presented a lecture by Dr. Livio Gratton which took people to an epic journey in and about the Moon. 

There were many events in Turkey for the kids about space and the Moon aiming to encourage kids to learn more about space and to inspire them to work in the field in the future.

Some global events also took place within the week. For example, there was a hashtag campaign as #whatspacemeans and people were expected to answer the hashtag with short videos and stories.

There was also an essay contest which is called "1st Women on the Moon" The prize for the essay contest was to attend the sessions, ceremonies, and activities at Galaxy Forum Hainan 2020: China, which will take place between 25-28 February.

So, as every year, this year's Space Week was celebrated widely and now ended. But don't be sorry, if you're a space lover, you can go to any event arranged for World Space Week next year. Until then, live long and prosper.