5 October 2026: World Space Week
Human interest in space has been multifaceted, ranging from the deep-seated desire to seek out the origins of our existence to the search for extraterrestrial life and habitable worlds. Prior to the modern technology used to explore space today, ancient civilizations tracked the movement of stars, planets and eclipses to measure time and to create reliable calendars dictating the best time for planting crops.
However, the frontiers of human ambition would not truly be pushed until years later, during the Space Race, a 20th-century Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for global power, political dominance, and technological superiority. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite into space, and only four years later, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space by completing a single orbit of Earth aboard the Vostok 3KA-3, two achievements that together shocked American scientists.
In 1969, Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon, arriving on Apollo 11, famously uttering the words “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” In 1999, the UN created World Space Week to celebrate the contributions of space technology towards the betterment of humanity, choosing the dates of October 4 to commemorate the launch of Sputnik 1, until October 10, which was the entry into force of the Outer Space Treaty (OST) 1967.
Humanity’s innate curiosity and hunger for knowledge have driven achievements once deemed impossible, from lunar landings to exploring the deepest corners of the cosmos. However, in recent decades, this relentless outward push has become a double-edged sword. In September 2026, Department of the Air Force Secretary Troy Meink publicly acknowledged that the US Space Force had deployed weapons into space, although he withheld specific details about the nature of the weapons.
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has stated that whether the US’ deployment of a weapon into space would directly contravene Article IV of the OST which prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons into space, boils down to the nature of the weapons itself. In response to the US’ acknowledgment of its deployment of weapons into space, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun condemned the US for expanding its military build-up in space, stating that China “opposed any arms race in outer space or any attempt to weaponize it and turn it into a war zone.”
The passing into law of the US Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act (SPACE Act 2015) which grants US citizens and commercial entities the legal right to possess, own, transport, use, and sell any asteroid that they recover has been criticized by scholars such as Professor Stephan Hobe who state that the legislation violates Article II of the OST, which was designed to prevent any form of territorial exclusivity over celestial bodies.
The US has defended the Act, with President Trump in 2020 signing Executive Order 13914, affirming that the country does not view outer space as “global commons” and that Americans should have the unfettered right to engage in commercial use of resources in outer space. Although it is a private entity and not a nation, therefore making it not directly subject to the OST, both Russia and Iran have formally complained at UN meetings that Elon Musk’s Starlink’s mega-constellations violate the spirit of Article IX of the OST, which requires countries to explore space with cooperation and respect the interests of other countries in doing so.
As the world celebrates World Space Week, it is important to acknowledge how far humanity has come and how much further we have to go in ensuring that space exploration remains both equitable and ethical.
