For information only - not an official document
UNIS/OS/478
7 December 2016
VIENNA, 7 December (UN Information Service) - The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) is pleased to announce that the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) has proclaimed that International Asteroid Day will be observed globally on 30 June every year. The decision was made during the 71 st session of the UNGA on 6 December after a proposal by the Association of Space Explorers was endorsed by the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) during its 59 th session in June.
International Asteroid Day will raise public awareness of the asteroid impact hazard and the global work undertaken in this area and facilitated by UNOOSA, including work by COPUOS and its Member States, the Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, and the International Asteroid Warning Network.
All United Nations Member States, organizations of the United Nations system, other international and regional organizations, as well as civil society, including non-governmental organizations and individuals, will be invited to observe International Asteroid Day.
The date of International Asteroid Day commemorates the anniversary of the Tunguska asteroid impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908.
The first official observance of International Asteroid Day will take place in 2017.
* *** *
For further information, please contact:
Daria
Brankin
United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA)
Telephone: (+43-1) 26060-8718
Email: daria.brankin[at]unoosa.org
