Mission to planet Earth: International Space Year, 1992.

Since the dawn of civilization, peoples in every land have reached for the heavens. From Canada to Kenya, Peru to Cambodia, Great Britain to China, rings of stone point sunward and ancient buildings align with the stars. The first humans embraced the sky in legend and myth: African bushmen saw the Milky Way as the backbone of night; to the Inca, it was a river of light and life.

Only in this century has the outer space of myth and imagination become a part of our modern reality. Indeed, 1992 is the thirty-fifth anniversary of the birth of the space age: in 1957, the first man-made satellite - Sputnik I - was launched by the former Soviet Union during the International Geophysical Year, which highlighted scientific inquiry and international cooperation.

It was to recognize this milestone, as well as the 500th anniversary of terrestrial explorer Christopher Columbus' voyage to the "New World", that United State Senator Spark Matsunaga of Hawaii proposed in the summer of 1985 that an International Space Year (ISY) of globally coordinated activities be held in 1992 to constitute the first year-long, worldwide celebration of humanity's future in the new space age.

In 1988, during a meeting sponsored by the United States National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) in Durham, New Hampshire, the proposal for ISY was officially endorsed by senior official from 18 national and international space agencies. The gathering also unanimously adopted "Mission to Planet Earth" as the Year's theme.

A total of 29 national space agencies subsequently undertook in a global efforts to coordinate the Year's activities, joined by 10 international organization, including the UN and the International Council of Scientific Unions, as well as hundreds of non-governmental organizations, such as the International Astronautical Federation, Founded in 1950 and the oldest association of national societies, institutions and industrial companies dealing with outer space.

Our 'blue planet'

"One of the central goals of International Space year is to highlight the importance of understanding the Earth as a single, complex, interdependent system and to stress the unique role that space science and technology can play in promoting that understanding", said Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali in a message on 28 August in Washington, D.C. to the World Space Congress, a key event of the Year.

The swirling, could-covered image from space of our "blue planet" has become the icon of the environmental movement. Modern space technologies provide ever more intricate views: sophisticated space-borne sensors can obtain invaluable data on the Earth's environment, including weather, climate change, natural resources and land use. Satellites can help guide traffic, transmit telephone calls and television broadcasts, monitor crises and verify compliance with disarmament agreements.

"I can see no better use to be made of the rapid advances in spaces science and technology than for such impressive technology to be used for the protection of our home and our environment", said Peter Hohenfeller of Austria, chairman of the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space - the primary international policy-making forum on space affairs - during its thirty-fifth session in June, which commemorated ISY.

The Year provides an opportunity "to expand our thinking and reflect, in as wide a manner as possible, on the many ways in which we can improve and expand international cooperation in outer space for the economic and social betterment of all", he stated.

Focus on cooperation

The General Assembly on 8 December 1989 endorsed the initiatives to designate 1992 as International Space Year, deciding that the Year should promote international cooperation in outer space activities.

In particular, the UN saw the need for education and information exchange on space technologies, particularly between developed space-faring nations and developing countries.

"The remarkable developments in the application of space technology to solving major world problems stand out as the most significant achievement of this century", said Professor U.R. Rao, head of the Indian space Research Organization, at the Outer Space Committee's meeting in June.

However, he added: "While space has already initiated a transformation of human society as a whole, many of the developing societies have yet to take advantage of the space revolution."

The UN has been involved in space affairs since 1958, when it created the Outer Space Committee to encourage the peaceful uses of outer space. It has since held two global congresses - UNISPACE I in 1968 and UNISPACE II in 1982, both in Vienna - which highlighted the increasing practical benefits of space activities and the need for international cooperation, especially between space powers and developing countries in space research technology.

"ISY has come to an opportune time", Nandasiri Jasentuliyana, Director of the UN Office for Outer was has Affairs, has said. "The cold war has just ended, thereby presenting a window of opportunity for the UN and the international community to foster the use of space for more meaningful applications for human development."

The 26 ISY projects undertaken by the Space Applications Programme of the Office for Outer Space Affairs, including international and regional training courses, conferences, seminars and workshops, focus on communications for development, bridging the information gap, data analysis and the use of space technology for sustainable resources development, environmental management, disaster relief and other needs of developing countries.

Says Adigun Abiodun, UN Expert on Space Applications: "It is hoped that these UN-ISY activities will encourage all countries, particularly the developing countries, not only to participate in the applications of space technology, but also to undertake programmes which would contribute to the understanding and the safeguarding of the global environment to solve local transnational environmental problems, to attempt to minimize the effect of violent meteorological events, to manage and to rationally exploit the Earth's natural resources, and to develop technologies to meet local needs."

Space for a new era

International Space Year is also an important measure of the transition taking place in international relations.

"Space programmers that have focused much of their economic and human resources on military and political competition can now provide leadership in demonstrating the uses of advanced technology for broad international cooperation", says Vladimir Petrovsky, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs.

The international group of ISY organizers, known as the Space Agency Forum on ISY (SAFISY), has supported and publicized dozens of cooperative and international space research and education programmers, in conjunction with the Year. The project are divided among three major topics: Earth science; space science; and education.

The 13 Earth science projects use space technologies to assess the environment, while the space science projects highlight perspectives from space, and an international educational campaign stresses the benefits of space technologies, which are not only peaceful but also vital to the future well-being of the Earth.