World Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology and the largest annual space event in the world. It aims to encourage outreach and dialogue on space activity to inspire scientists of the future and educate the general public. 

In 1999 the UN General Assembly declared that World Space Week would be held each year from October 4-10. These dates commemorate two events:

• October 4, 1957: launch of the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, thus opening the way for space exploration
• October 10, 1967: the signing of the Outer Space Treaty 

Each year the World Space Week Association selects a theme for the upcoming World Space Week to increase the impact and provide a focus for events and activities taking place. For 2017 the theme is “Exploring New Worlds in Space”. 

Especially for World Space Week, we have made these book chapters free to read until 20th October: https://goo.gl/FwV32y