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Get your NASA-issued party helmets on,
because it is space week!
Happy Space Week, viewers.
I'm Trace, and you have found the D News weekly space update.
Space gets people excited.
It's inspiring.
How can you not love the romantic and exciting ideas
of space travel?
Today begins World Space Week.
The United Nations created World Space Week in 1999
to commemorate two dates-- October 4 and October 10.
And they use this time to educate people
about the benefits of space travel for economies,
for industries, and get people excited
around the globe about science, space exploration, and space
education.
On October 4, 1957, the very first satellite
was launched into space, Sputnik One.
Think about that.
56 years ago yesterday, nothing had ever been put into orbit.
Sure, we'd launched rockets into space.
But that was it.
We had never purposefully placed anything up there ever.
Sputnik burned up on reentry a few months later,
but it kicked off the space race between the Soviet Union
and United States.
October 10, 1967, 10 years after Sputnik One's successful orbit,
the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities
of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space,
Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
was signed at the United Nations.
We have actually referred to it here
at D News as the Outer Space Treaty.
I think it took 10 years and six days
because they were still agreeing on that name.
I love this treaty.
It is super interesting.
According to the Outer Space Treaty,
no country can claim the moon as its own.
Sorry, America.
And all celestial bodies have to be used for peace only.
It also mandated that astronauts were envoys for all mankind,
not just their country of origin.
If an astronaut somehow landed in an enemy country,
that country was supposed to send them home straight away,
though I don't know if that's ever happened.
Just in case you're unaware, dollars
spent in space exploration provide huge benefits
to people on the ground across the world,
even in nations that have no space program.
For example, better digital cameras
were pushed by the Hubble Space Telescope research.
And that has since made digital medical devices better.
The jaws of life were developed for the space program
and now help cut apart vehicles mangled in car wrecks.
Not to mention satellites for natural disaster, early warning
systems, community, and countless other uses.
Space is awesome.
To get into the spirit, Discovery's online network,
TestTube, is throwing space celebrations
all across our shows.
Here on D News, we're going to have a Google
Hangout with some awesome space nerds.
Nature hates you is going to tell you why space hates you.
And brain stuff is getting into the fun too.
So for all the awesome space video,
check out TestTube.com/space.
So what do you love about space exploration?
What is your favorite thing about space programs?
Share your thoughts with us, and get out there
and enjoy Space Week, everybody.