Most actions of World Space Week were held in the Czech Republic
Prague, 8 July 2009 – CSO announced that the office of the United Nations in Vienna published the annual report on the World Space Week (WSW) for the year 2008. In this publication the office mentions that the Czech Republic amongst all the 63 countries of the world, which took part in this event, took the first place in the number of events held.
"In the name of Czech Space Office, the national coordinator of the World Space Week’s programme, I would like to thank all the organizations, schools, clubs and even individuals, for without their remarkable effort, the programme, directed towards the reminding the worldwide significance of the cosmonautics, would never come true in such extent,” says doc. Ing. Jan Kolář, CSc., the director of CSO.
Even during this year, the Czech Space Office is preparing for several interesting events and anniversaries. The main event is going to be the 40th anniversary of the first manned landing on the Moon (July 20, 1969, Apollo 11). The XXII Planetary Congress of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) is another significant event, where Prague is going to host more than 50 astronauts from all over the world. The congress is going to take place in the days of the annual World Space Week, hence between the October 4th and 10th. The second important anniversary is October 14, 2009; 40 years after the start of the first Czechoslovak science equipment into space – the equipment comprised a photometer for measuring the soft X-rays emitted by the Sun and optical photometer (an instrument for measuring the luminous flux, brightness, temperature and colour of the sunlight) aboard the Interkosmos-1 probe.
In the year 2008, when the Czech Republic commemorated 2 significant events of its aerospace history, the 30th anniversary of the start of the first Czechoslovak cosmonaut Vladimír Remek and the 30th anniversary of the probe Magion-1’s start, 63 lectures, talks, seminars, expositions and other happenings dedicated to cosmonautics, astronomy and to other modern fields of science connected with space took place in the Czech Republic. There was even included the observation of the International Space Station and other space objects.
Also a book from the duo of authors Karel Pacner and Antonín Vítek called “Půlstoletí kosmonautiky” (Half-century of Space Travel) was published; TV and radio aired 23 broadcasts, interviews and information spots; schools held 17 expositions, talks and programmes and all that was devoted to cosmonautics. Altogether 105 events, visited by over 5000 people, other tens of thousands heard the information on the radio, saw it on the TV, read it in daily newspapers or on the web pages of the cooperating organizations. All that took place in the Czech Republic during the World Space Week 2008.