The theme of this year's "Space Week" will be to commemorate 50 years since man first landed on the moon.
By YAFIT OVADIAUpdated: JANUARY 22, 2019 21:48Israel Museum during Space Week(photo credit: RON SHALAF)
Israel will launch “Space Week,” an annual event encompassing various space-themed activities and learning centers around the country, from January 27 to January 31.The theme of this year’s “Space Week” is to commemorate the 50 years since mankind first landed on the moon.The main scheduled events will be held at Madatech - The National Science Museum in Haifa, the Bloomfield Science Museum in Jerusalem, Beit Yatziv in Beersheba, the Merchavim Regional Council, the Givatayim Theater, the Ilan Ramon Space Center in Taybe, the Kinneret Observatory, the Ilan Ramon Center in Beersheba, the Netanya Plantation Center and others. The events are free of charge and open to the public.The Israeli Space Agency - which is arranging these events - does so annually, in hopes of inspiring the younger generation to pursue a career in a space-related field, including in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects. The Space Agency, along with the Science and Technology Ministry, hopes to raise awareness of space research as well as provide broader education on the subject for wider audiences, particularly children. Minister Ofir Akunis added: “We are fortifying Israel’s future as an international technological power.”Some of the activities include a space entrepreneurship workshop, a simulation of 3-D printing in space, lectures for middle school students, star-gazing points across the country where telescopes will be provided, an international conference that will host dozens of professionals from Israel and around the world, ‘Space it Up,’ lectures for the space-loving community in Israel and various other events.Some of the exhibits featured will include a moon-landing simulation - which will project an image of the lunar landing from inside a spacecraft as it looked decades ago; a “Journey to the Moon” that will discuss moon missions from a scientific aspect; an interactive modeling workshop that teaches children how to build spacecraft models based on the original sketches by NASA; a theatrical rendition of space-themed stories for young children and more.Space Week is held every year to remember the first Israeli astronaut, Ilan Ramon, who was killed in the tragic Columbia Space Shuttle disaster in 2003.More information can be found at www.space.gov.il.
