By resolution 54/68 on December 6, 1999, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed World Space Week to celebrate the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition.
World Space Week is the largest annual space event in the world. It helps build up the workforce of tomorrow by inspiring students; demonstrates visible public support for the space program; educates the public about space activities; and fosters international cooperation in space outreach and education.
Each year a theme is selected by the World Space Week Association Board of Directors in close coordination with the UN Office of Outer Space Affairs. The theme provides broad guidance to World Space Week participants on the content of their programmes. The theme is selected to increase the impact of World Space Week on all humanity further, by using a uniform theme globally.
World Space Week 2026 events, which began October 4 in 100 nations and run through October 10, will celebrate how launch innovation has stimulated the rapidly-growing space economy and enabled new uses of space to help the world.
“This year’s theme is the Rocket Revolution,” said Dennis Stone, World Space Week Association President. “It recognizes how increased space access and falling launch prices have stimulated the space ecosystem and exciting new space applications,” he said. The rocketry theme will also be used to inspire student interest in STEM-based education, he added.
Planned World Space Week 2026 activities included:
European Space Agency and The Pokémon Company International will celebrate World Space Week 2026 with a Europe-wide family exhibition combining real space science with Pokémon, alongside special Pokémon GO activities at participating museums.
BBC StoryWorks will mark World Space Week with the online premiere of its upcoming series Space Renaissance.
NASA Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will host a World Space Week Expo featuring Space Shuttle Atlantis, highlighting the Rocket Revolution and its impact on space exploration and access.
Students and rocket clubs around the world will put the Rocket Revolution into action by launching model rockets. In the U.S., enthusiasts will launch Vulcan model rockets provided by United Launch Alliance and Estes.
UN-declared World Space Week, the largest space event on Earth, last year was celebrated by 50,000 events held by space agencies, schools, aerospace companies, and others according to the Association. World Space Week is held each October 4-10.
John Elbon, former ULA Interim CEO, serves as Honorary Chair of World Space Week 2026 to help showcase the launch industry. Tory Bruno, President of Blue Origin National Security, will serve as Honorary Chair in 2027 with the theme “To the Moon.”
“We encourage students and the public to celebrate space in their own way next week as part of the biggest space event in the world,” Stone said. The public can see what’s planned in their area at worldspaceweek.org.
About World Space Week
The largest space event on Earth, UN-declared World Space Week is celebrated October 4–10 annually. It is an international celebration of the contribution of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition. World Space Week consists of numerous space-related events held by space agencies, aerospace companies, schools, planetaria, museums, astronomy clubs, and others in a common timeframe to achieve greater student and public impact through synchronization. In 2025, 50,000 events were reported in 102 countries.
About World Space Week Association
World Space Week Association is the global coordinator of World Space Week. As an international non-government, non-profit organization, it serves as a permanent observer on the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and is supported by voluntary contributions from sponsors including Blue Origin, United Launch Alliance, Texas Instruments, Firefly Aerospace, L3 Harris, BAE Systems, Black Sky, Airbus, Club for the Future, Cesium Astro, Space Foundation, Gaia Horizons, and Space News. The Association was founded in 1982 and is one of the world’s oldest space advocacy organizations.
United Nations World Space Week Background
On 4 October 1957, the launch into outer space of the first human-made Earth satellite opened the way for space exploration. A decade later, on 10 October 1967, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies entered into force.
Space science and technology and their applications are increasingly being used to support a wide range of United Nations activities. At least 25 United Nations entities and the World Bank Group routinely use space applications. They make important and sometimes essential contributions to the work of the United Nations, including in the implementation of recommendations of major world conferences and those of the Third United Nations Conference on the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNISPACE III), as well as support towards sustainable development.
As a consequence, coordination, cooperation and synergy are essential for those activities to be effectively carried out by the United Nations system. The annual sessions of the Inter-Agency Meeting on Outer Space Activities are the main means of achieving that synergy. The effectiveness of the Meeting has been further enhanced by the holding, since 2004, of an open informal session immediately after the end of the Meeting, as a means of engaging Member States, in a direct and informal setting, in important space-related developments in the United Nations system. The agenda of the Inter-Agency Meeting is reviewed at each session and adapted to current operational needs.
UN and Space
From the very beginning of the Space Age, the United Nations recognized that outer space added a new dimension to humanity’s existence. The United Nations family strives continuously to utilize the unique benefits of outer space for the betterment of all humankind.
Recognizing the common interest of humankind in outer space and seeking to answer questions on how outer space can help benefit the people’s of Earth, the General Assembly adopted its first resolution related to outer space, resolution 1348 (XIII) entitled “Question of the Peaceful Use of Outer Space”.
On 10 October 1967, the “Magna Carta of Space“, also known as the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies entered into force.
Today, the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is the United Nations office responsible for promoting international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space. UNOOSA serves as the secretariat for the General Assembly’s only committee dealing exclusively with international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space: the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space(COPUOS).
UNOOSA is also responsible for implementing the Secretary-General’s responsibilities under international space law and maintaining the United Nations Register of Objects Launched into Outer Space.
To learn more, view the timeline.
