Fifty years ago, the world witnessed the launch of Yuri Gagarin, the first human being in space. And sixty years ago, leading astronomers, physicists and other scientists got together and formed the International Astronautical Federation - dedicated to creating a space-faring world for the benefit of humanity. During 2011, the IAF celebrates its 60th anniversary in a series of events which starts at our Spring Meeting in Paris and which will conclude at the 62nd International Astronautical Congress in Cape Town, South Africa.
Those sixty years have seen many giant leaps for mankind - from Sputnik and Apollo to the International Space Station and beyond. From a Space Race with only two players we now welcome many countries of the world being active in space or in using space assets. Today is a future unimaginable to the early pioneers -a development built largely upon the innovations of our industry.
Satellites have given us world-wide communication, the global internet, GPS navigation, weather monitoring and a new perspective of our home planet Earth. Interplanetary missions find exotic new worlds and may well uncover life elsewhere in the Universe. Space telescopes may find us a future home.
Over the same six decades, our Federation has changed remarkably. It has fulfilled its original role as a mediator between the space powers and the rest of the world. It has contributed to a proliferation of knowledge and skills, and to worldwide access to the benefits of space assets.
Today, the Federation concentrates its activities on benefits to its members in terms of cooperation, knowledge dissemination and coordinating the utilisation of space systems for human development. The IAF actively stimulates the promotion of public awareness of space activities worldwide and helps to develop a highly motivated and knowledgeable workforce for the ambitions of tomorrow.
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