posted 03-06-2007 06:11 AM               

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The year 2007 is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1, which took place on 4 October, 1957.

2007 is also the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the International Geophysical Year, which has provided a very effective mechanism for international scientific collaboration. This year also marks the 40th anniversary of the Treaty on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

In a joint initiative of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) invites you to a special event celebrating these anniversaries.

This event is being organized in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR), the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), and ESA.

The commemoration will feature four distinguished speakers who will reflect on what has been achieved in space over the past fifty years, and who will look ahead to what can be anticipated in the coming fifty years. The programme is attached.

This special event will take place on 21 March, 2007 at 17:00 in the main auditorium of UNESCO at 125 Avenue de Suffren, in the 15th Arrondissement of Paris. A cocktail will follow the conference.

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• Prof. Boris Chertok (Russian Federation), Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences addressing the past 50 years of space activities.

• Mr. Roy Gibson (United Kingdom), former Director General of the European Space Agency, looking at the past 50 years of space and the history of international space programmes.

• Dr. Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan (India), former Chairman of ISRO and current Member of the Indian Parliament, presenting the potential for space technology to serve humankind during the coming 50 years.

• Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson (United States), Director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, speaking on the potential of space for exploration and inspiration during the next 50 years.