2002 (MMII)was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar (dominical letter F), the 2002nd year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 2nd year of the 3rd millennium, the 2nd year of the 21st century, and the 3rd year of the 2000s decade.The year 2002 was a palindrome, the first since 1991, which, by coincidence, was also a common year that started on a Tuesday.2002 was designated as: International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains Year of the Outback in Australia National Science Year in the United Kingdom Autism Awareness Year in the United Kingdom