Press Release – Moon Village Association and Drake State host inaugural International Moon Day celebration
VIENNA, Austria – International Moon Day will be celebrated across the globe in more than 20 countries, including the Unites States. The International Moon Day Group proudly announces the inaugural celebration of International Moon Day (IMD) on July 20, 2022 in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.
We will celebrate humankind’s first steps on the Moon, as well as its return to explore a sustainable living environment, for the first time, from the place where a large part of the Apollo Program has its roots, in Huntsville, where the Marshall Space Flight Center is located.
This year’s program revolves around the theme ‘Lunar Exploration, Coordination, and Sustainability’ and involves various keynote speeches, from Dr. Alsahhaf (Chair of the IMD), Dr. Giuseppe Reibaldi (Presidents of MVA), Dr. Patricia Sims (President of Drake State), Mr. Jim Odom (an Apollo program veteran), and Ms. Rae Ann Meyer (Associate Director of NASA MSFC), to name a few, and a main round table discussion “Why Go Back to the Moon?” with participants joining both locally and virtually from around the world.
This year’s inaugural International Moon Day celebration is sponsored by the Marshall Association and Lockheed Martin Corporation (IMD’s Founding Sponsor).
Media is invited to cover this event.
DATE: July 20, 2022
TIME: 1:30 – 5:00 pm
LOCATION: Drake State, 3421 Meridian St. N, Huntsville, AL 35811
LIVESTREAM: The public will be able to livestream this event on the International Moon Day YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2OxYR_XjtatljBRBxQgg-g
For more information online about the various IMD events happening throughout the world at https://internationalmoonday.org/imd-world-events/.
About International Moon Day
The Moon Village Association submitted a proposal for the proclamation of the International Moon Day during the UN-COPUOS 64th Session in August 2021. The proclamation has been approved on December 9, 2021 by the UN General Assembly.
International Moon Day will be held every year on July 20, the anniversary of the 1969 first human landing, from the United States of America, with the Apollo 11 mission, taking into consideration the achievements of all States in the exploration of the Moon.
The IMD will be celebrated with the general public across the planet. MVA believes that the International Moon Day is a good opportunity to educate the public and promote and raise each year, at the international level, the awareness on the status and prospects for humanity, the sustainable Moon Exploration and Utilization of the Moon and the need to act together to regulate activities on and around the Moon.
This event will foster increased global cooperation between stakeholders all around the world, as well as promoting increasing participation to this goal of the future generation.
Because MVA has been an early advocate of the concept of the International Moon Day celebration, MVA is taking the initiative to organize its implementation by setting up the IMD-G within its organization. The IMD-G is the body which leads the management of the celebration of the International Moon Dayand is led by the Chair, Dr. Nasr A. Alsahhaf.
For more information, visit the website at: https://internationalmoonday.org
About the Moon Village Association
The Moon Village Association (MVA) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) based in Vienna, founded in 2017. Its goal is the creation of a permanent global informal forum for stakeholders like governments, industry, academia and the general public interested in the development of the Moon Village. The MVA is the assembling of all efforts from private industry, governments and others aimed to explore and use the Moon in a sustainable manner. The MVA fosters cooperation for existing or planned Moon exploration programs, be they public or private initiatives. It comprises more than 600 participants to MVA activities and 27 institutional members from more than 60 countries, representing a diverse array of technical, scientific, cultural and interdisciplinary fields. The MVA partners with non-space organizations to promote international discussions and formulation of plans to foster the development of the Moon Village, and is creating international, national and regional networks to engage civil society around the world. The Moon Village Association’s mission is unique, bridging together both spacefaring and non-spacefaring nations offering them the opportunity to play a role in its realization. There is no other organization on the international scene having such a mission. (For more information: www.moonvillageassociation.org/.)
About Drake State Community & Technical College
Drake State Community & Technical College offers flexible, affordable university-transfer and technical degrees, certificates, adult and continuing education, and customized skills training to fulfill the diverse workforce needs of employers. In September 2020, Drake State became the first and only historically Black community college to receive a maximum award on a cooperative agreement through NASA’s Office of STEM Engagement and Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP). The NASA cooperative agreement was the catalyst for the creation of Drake State’s Frontiers Research Program. Visit www.drakestate.edu for more information.
