AAAS, the world’s largest general scientific organization, announced Thursday that it will partner with the March for Science, a worldwide nonpartisan movement highlighting the essential role that science plays in understanding our world, improving our daily lives and informing policymaking in towns and cities across the globe.

Scientific organizations partnering with the March for Science are stressing the need for scientists to connect more directly with policymakers and the public both now and in the future to build support for science and explain its value for society.

Sputnik 1 first streaked across the virgin heavens a half-century ago ushering in the Space Age. Since then the number of manmade objects circling the globe has swelled into the hundreds of thousands. Space-based systems such as Global Positioning System (GPS), telecommunications, and weather forecasting have become so woven into daily life that they are taken for granted.