Google joins the 'Rocket Revolution' with World Space Week 2026 Google Doodle

(Image credit: Google)

World Space Week 2026 is off to a great start, and everyone's favorite daily pop culture animation has joined the celebration.

Today's Google Doodle (Oct. 6) features the tech company's logo over a sparkling view of the Rosebud Nebula. The image was captured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), with stars that shimmer periodically on the search engine's home page.

This year's World Space Week runs from Oct. 4 through Oct. 10. The theme, "Rocket Revolution," highlights the leaps in accomplishments humanity has achieved over the past decade and more of spaceflight, with the goal of uniting industry leaders, agencies, educational institutions, students and enthusiasts for space-related activities and celebrations around the globe.

"This World Space Week 2026 Doodle celebrates the technology behind awe-inspiring astrophotography," it says on the Oct. 6 Google Doodle page, which shares a brief description of the Rosebud Nebula:

"Located 3,300 light-years away, this reflection nebula is home to over 130 young stars. Its clouds of gas and dust form a physical shape resembling an unopened, blooming rosebud, glowing rosy-pink from dust heated by these stars."

World Space Week was officially established by the United Nations in 1999. It marks the dual observance of launch of Earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, on Oct. 4, 1957, and the 1967 signing of the Outer Space Treaty on Oct. 10, which solidified the basic principles for peaceful exploration of the cosmos.

Josh Dinner is Space.com's Spaceflight Staff Writer. He is a writer and photographer with a passion for science and space exploration, and has been working the space beat since 2016. Josh has covered the evolution of NASA's Artemis program and humanity's return to the moon, commercial spaceflight partnerships and crewed missions from the Space Coast, NASA science missions and more. He also enjoys building 1:144-scale model rockets and spacecraft. Find some of Josh's launch photography on Instagram, and follow him on X, where he mostly posts in haiku.