by Jeff Cunningham

Today is the first day of World Space Week, an international celebration of spaceflight’s contribution to enriching and improving the quality of life for the human race. Officially recognized by the United Nations, it begins every October 4th (the day that Sputnik launched) and runs through (the day that the Outer Space Treaty was signed). Here at Take Back the Sky, we’ll be celebrating with a special post each day, with a few surprises at the end!

As we talk to people all over this little world, we continue to find that many people simply aren’t aware of what’s going on in the world of spaceflight — many aren’t even aware that the space shuttle is no longer flying, nor will ever again fly. On the one hand, if a majority of people cared enough about space to “educate themselves” about it the way that they do about other issues, like the economy or the environment, then things would be vastly different today and we might not even be having this conversation. To be fair, the topic of humans in space hasn’t seen the front page of any major media outlet in many years.

Whatever the case, we thought it may be appropriate to dedicate this, the first day of World Space Week 2012, to a “State of the ‘Verse” summary. As Captain Reynolds of Firefly would say, “here’s the way it is:” Continue Reading