The International Space Year (ISY) was 1992, the year of the quincentenary of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

's voyage to the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

in 1492. First proposed by U.S. Senator

Spark Matsunaga Spark Masayuki Matsunaga ( ja, 松永正幸, October 8, 1916April 15, 1990) was an American politician and attorney who served as United States Senator for Hawaii from 1977 until his death in 1990. Matsunaga also represented Hawaii in the U.S. ...

, the designation of 1992 as International Space Year was endorsed by 18 national and international space agencies, who also proposed the year's theme, "Mission to Planet Earth". Eventually, 29 national space agencies and 10 international organizations took part in coordinated activities to promote space exploration and the use of sustainable technology on

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

."PRESIDENT BUSH LAUNCHES INTERNATIONAL SPACE YEAR", a

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

ISY press release. January 24, 1992. Accesse
here
Retrieved 2012-09-17.

United Nations endorsement

The

United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space The United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) is a United Nations committee whose main task is to review and foster international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space, as well as to consider legal issues ar ...

agreed to recognize the International Space Year to promote peaceful cooperation between nations during its 1990 session."Agreement reached on guidelines for nuclear power sources." ''United Nations Chronicle'' 27, no. 3 (September 1990): 35. ''Academic Search Premier'', ''EBSCO''host. Retrieved 2012-09-17.

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Secretary-General

Boutros Boutros-Ghali Boutros Boutros-Ghali (; , ar, بطرس بطرس غالي ', ; 14 November 1922 – 16 February 2016) was an Egyptian politician and diplomat who served as the sixth Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) from 1992 to 1996. An academic ...

, addressing the World Space Congress in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, on August 28, 1992, said, "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.""Mission to Planet Earth". '' United Nations Chronicle'', 29 no. 4. (December, 1992): 49. ''Academic Search Premier'', ''EBSCO''host. Retrieved 2012-09-17. Given that the year 1992 marked the anniversary of 500 years of genocide around the world, it is important to note the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations requested the United Nations recognize 1992 as the International Year of the World's Indigenous People. However, the colonial nations of the Americas and Spain blocked the request as they had plans to celebrate the Quincentenary of Columbus' voyage. The United States featured a poster celebrating 1992 as the International Space Year in which, as described by the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum: "Movie character 'ET' embraces earth; on horizon shows progression of exploring vehicles from lumbus' ships to present." It celebrates Columbus' voyage, indicating the Columbian legacy was viewed as an inspiration for the future of space travel.

Global activities

International Space Year was celebrated by 29 space agencies in various countries with the purpose of establishing peaceful international relations in space programs. International Space Year conferences were held regularly in many nations.

Australia

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, many public events were organized to augment public awareness of space by the

National Space Society The National Space Society (NSS) is an American international nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy. It is a member of the Independent Charities of America and an annual participant in the Combi ...

chapters of Australia.

CSIRO The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...

led the "Mission to Planet Earth" Land Cover Change project, using

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioisotope ...

s to study

plant life Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...

on Earth in relation to climate and civilization. CSIRO and various Australian Universities also studied the ocean using

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese satellites. Additionally, a series of commemorative stamps was issued by the

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

for International Space Year.Kingwell, Jeff. "International Space Year". ''Year Book Australia, 1992''. Accessed through th
Australian Bureau of Statistics
Retrieved 2012-09-18.

Japan

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, a conference—the Asia-Pacific International Space Year Conference—was held to discuss the "Mission to Planet Earth" theme and international cooperation.''Asia-Pacific International Space Year (ISY) Conference, Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 16-20, 1992, Proceedings. Vols. 1 & 2'' abstract. Hosted on th
Smithsonian/NASA Astrophysics Data System
Retrieved 2012-09-18.

Russia

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

, the Foundation for Social Inventions launched Space Flight Europe-America 500 in an attempt to promote a peaceful social and economic relationship between the former

Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also known as the former Soviet Union (FSU), the former Soviet Republics and in Russia as the near abroad (russian: links=no, ближнее зарубежье, blizhneye zarubezhye), are the 15 sovereign states that wer ...

and the United States of America. Space Flight Europe-America 500 consisted of a

Proton rocket Proton (Russian: Протон) (formal designation: UR-500) is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965. Modern versions of the launch system are sti ...

carrying various items symbolizing peace, which orbited the Earth for a few days. The space craft was scheduled to land near

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

in late November. Its cost was estimated by Russian authorities at over US$200 million.

United States

In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, which led the US space agencies, responded to ISY with the completion or creation of many important space programs, including numerous collaborations with other domestic and international space agencies. A total of twelve programmes were launched, the most in any year up to that point. NASA focused particularly on projects — such as the ''

Mars Observer The ''Mars Observer'' spacecraft, also known as the ''Mars Geoscience/Climatology Orbiter'', was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on September 25, 1992, to study the Martian surface, atmosphere, climate and magnetic field. During the inte ...

'', which studied the atmosphere and climate of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

— that examined the possibility of sustaining human life outside Earth, as well as those exploring problems that existed on Earth at the time. ISY was also recognized with the opening of a new exhibit, entitled "Where Next, Columbus?" at the

National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States. Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...

They Might Be Giants

Alternative rock band

They Might Be Giants They Might Be Giants (often abbreviated as TMBG) is an American alternative rock band formed in 1982 by John Flansburgh and John Linnell. During TMBG's early years, Flansburgh and Linnell frequently performed as a duo, often accompanied by a d ...

were designated by NASA as the "Musical Ambassador" of the International Space Year when they were searching the NASA archives for images for their album, '' Apollo 18''. The title of the album came directly from the NASA Apollo program—the last mission of which was

Apollo 17 Apollo 17 (December 7–19, 1972) was the final mission of NASA's Apollo program, the most recent time humans have set foot on the Moon or traveled beyond low Earth orbit. Commander Gene Cernan and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt walked on ...

Accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

ist and singer/songwriter

John Linnell John Sidney Linnell ( ; born June 12, 1959) is an American musician, known primarily as one half of the Brooklyn-based alternative rock band They Might Be Giants with John Flansburgh, which was formed in 1982. In addition to singing and songwri ...

jokingly speculated that an album named ''Apollo 18'' would be a cheaper alternative to actually manning a flight to the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It is the fifth largest satellite in the Solar System and the largest and most massive relative to its parent planet, with a diameter about one-quarter that of Earth (comparable to the width of ...

as part of the International Space Year, although the album title was selected prior to the band's involvement with ISY. In support of the celebration, the album's back cover artwork and some promotional materials feature the International Space Year logo. Linnell explained that "

he band is He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' in ...

supposed to be included on lists of events happening in connection with International Space Year...In other words, on a particular month they'll say in some town there's this lecture about space telescopes and then there's this They Might Be Giants concert." On a different occasion, however, he pointed out that he " idn'tthink most people have heard that this is International Space Year".''

Rumpus Rumpus may refer to: * Recreation room, also known under the term "rumpus room" * Rumpus Cat, a fictional character from T. S. Eliot's ''Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats'' and the musical ''Cats'' * ''Rumpus Magazine'', a bi-monthly student tabl ...

'' magazine, October 1992.