In July 1999, people from all over the world gathered together for ten days in Vienna, Austria.

They were biologists, astronauts, aerospace engineers, diplomats, meteorologists, disaster response specialists, and geologists. WHY WERE THEY THERE?

All these people, who care about the future of the Earth and the exploration of space, joined up for
the UNISPACE III conference:
the Third United Nations Conference on Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

The conference was held to help create a blueprint for peaceful uses of outer space in the 21^st century. It was sponsored by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.

People from many countries are working together in outer space for the good of all the Earth, including:

• Sharing technological discoveries to help all nations, not just their own
• Using space equipment (such as satellites) to help predict natural disasters, like tsunamis, typhoons, and earthquakes, in order to help protect and save people's lives
• Using space technology to better understand the situation and the needs of our environment -- and how we might better protect it
• Figuring out how to share complex technical information with less developed nations effectively

What about countries that don't really have space programs? How do they participate in a conference like this?

Countries with less money or technology participate by showing up to support countries with more developed space programs and saying, "We share the world with you, and we could use your help! Won't you share your information with us?"

Many countries from different regions of the world got together before UNISPACE III and decided what to say, what to ask for, and what to concentrate on while the conference was taking place.

Special pre-conferences were held in

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (for Asia and the Pacific Region),

Concepcion, Chile (for Latin America and the Caribbean),

Rabat, Morocco (for Africa and the Middle East),

and Bucharest, Romania (for Eastern Europe).

They discussed their hopes, wishes, and needs from the countries with more advanced space technology programs, and presented them at UNISPACE III.

top of the page