International Day of Human Space Flight

Before launching into space in 1977, the United States space agency, NASA, asked the United Nations to provide materials for a playlist to record an album – the " Golden Record " – to be sent to the stars. In fact, the first words on the vinyl record itself are those of the then- UN Secretary-General , expressing hope for peace and friendship with whoever discovers and plays it. If you visit United Nations Headquarters, a replica of the Golden Record is on display alongside other space oddities, including an actual piece of the Moon . Bill Nye, “The Science Guy” and CEO of the Planetary Society, walks viewers through how to decipher the Golden Record, its significance today and how reverence for the universe can inspire action for our planet. 

In 1977 and 1978, at the request of Grenada, the United N ations General Assembly took up The issue of UFOs . Included on the Assembly’s agenda for its 32nd and 33rd sessions was the item “Establishment of an agency or a department of the United Nations for undertaking, co-ordinating and disseminating the results of research into unidentified flying objects and related phenomena” . While draft resolutions sponsored by Grenada in each session were not pressed to vote and were not adopted, the world body did adopt decisions 32/424 and 33/426. In 1978, the General Assembly decided to invite “interested Member States to take appropriate steps to coordinate on a national level scientific research and investigation into extraterrestrial life , including unidentified flying objects , and to inform the Secretary-General of the observations, research and evaluation of such activities”. Find links to both Assembly decisions here , courtesy of Ask Dag , the service catering to inquiring minds...

Jumping back further, United States astronauts fresh from a Moon walk visited UN Headquarters to much fanfare in August 1969.    United Nations News · CLIP - American astronauts of Apollo 11 visit to the United Nations, in August 1969