International Day of Human Space Flight to Be Observed 12 April at Headquarters;

 

Panel Discussions to Include Astronauts, Space Scientists, Writers

 

The United Nations Academic Impact will observe the annual International Day of Human Space Flight on Thursday, 12 April, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.  The Day, only in its second year of observance, will provide an opportunity for the international community to highlight the role of outer space as the province of all humankind for peaceful purposes and common benefits.

The programme, to be held at the Economic and Social Council Chamber from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., will include panel discussions and musical selections from a forthcoming CD entitled The Mighty Sky, by Beth Nielsen Chapman, intended to familiarize students with the wonders of space research.

Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, President of the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly, will be present at the opening session.  Charles Bolden, Administrator of the National Aeronautical Space Administration in the United States, will be the keynote speaker.  Participation will include space scientists and scholars from the Russian Federation, Handong Global University (Republic of Korea), Vanderbilt University and the Space Telescope Science Institute (United States).  Noted authors Dava Sobel (Galileo’s Daughter) and Howard Scherry (Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and “The Little Prince”) will also speak.  Students will form the greater part of the audience.

The event will be webcast and can be viewed at www.un.org/webcast.

The General Assembly, in its resolution A/RES/65/271 of 7 April 2011, declared 12 April as the International Day of Human Space Flight “to celebrate each year at the international level the beginning of the space era for mankind, reaffirming the important contribution of space science and technology in achieving sustainable development goals and increasing the well-being of States and peoples, as well as ensuring the realization of their aspiration to maintain outer space for peaceful purposes”.

The first human space flight, 12 April 1961, was carried out by Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet citizen born in Russia.  This historic event opened the way for space exploration for the benefit of all humanity.  The General Assembly has repeatedly expressed its deep conviction of the common interest of mankind in promoting and expanding the exploration and use of outer space as the province of all mankind, for peaceful purposes, and in continuing efforts to extend to all States the benefits derived therein.

This year’s observance, an initiative of the Secretary-General, has been organized by the United Nations Academic Impact.  As a global alliance of more than 800 institutions of higher education and research, it is committed to supporting the United Nations in realizing its mission and mandates.

For additional information about the initiative, please visit the website http://outreach.un.org/unai/.

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For information media • not an official record