Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman to go to space (1963), will be coming to Washington DC to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. She will be participating in tours and a symposium while here and will also attend a special "The Ball the Started it All" reception on Thursday November 15th that will be open to the public. (Events will be in November as Sputnik celebrations in Russia preclude travel to the US during October).
What better way to celebrate the first artificial moon then to hang out with the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, and a Sputnik
Martini! (the event will feature Sputnik Martinis with a large round ice cube that the drink is poured over...)
Ah, Sputnik, Sputnik everywhere. This week marks the annual ritual of World Space Week, begun in 1999 by the United Nations to mark the anniversary of Sputnik (Oct 4) and the anniversary of the Outer Space Treaty (Oct 10), and for added octane this year also marks the 50th anniversary of SPACE! There seems to be a lot of silver balls everywhere I turn.
It started with the New York Times coverage that I blogged about week before last. Then there was the US Today article and the NASA releases and the countless other tributes, events, articles since then. The International Space University is even celebrating by auctioning off a replica of Sputnik on eBay to raise money for scholarships. CollectSpace is featuring the top 10 Sputniks- maybe there is one to visit in a town near you! I am still holding out for the Sputnik tattoo gallery (please send in your photos!).
World Space Week this year also included the flying of 6 students from all around the world on a weightless flight. They had students from Thailand, Italy, Columbia, Nigeria, China, Norway and the US. There is nothing more inspiring then watching young people from around the globe come together to share a common experience- especially one that does not need a common language.
I hope your Sputnik celebrations went well and I hope the discussions of the next 50 years of space continue! Rutan was right- 300 years from now it will be obvious that we really are living in the golden era of space exploration.
