The International Space Development Conference (ISDC) is the annual conference of the National Space Society (NSS). Now in its 41st year, these conferences connect the general public and the NSS membership with leaders of contemporary space efforts. The ISDC provides a nexus for industry, government, scientists, advocates, and the public to meet and discuss the latest issues in space technology, science, policy, commerce, medicine, exploration, settlement and much more. Winners of the annual NASA space settlement Contest annually attend the conference, with several interesting activities and programs. With National Space Society's major goal being to accelerate the process of space exploration and development they also foster astronautics for students by encouraging them and getting them involved.[1]
The first ISDC was held in Los Angeles in 1982. The CoChairmen were Jerry Pournelle and Milton Stevens, and most of the convention staff were volunteers from the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society (LASFS), although it was emphasized that the conference was professional in nature, and would not be a science fiction convention. The Professional Guest of Honor was Fred Haise of Apollo 13, then CEO of Grumman. Attendees included Buzz Aldrin, Max Hunter, General Daniel Graham, Dick Rutan, and a number of space oriented professionals. Science Fiction author Robert Heinlein was the "fan guest of honor". It was intended as a one of a kind convention, but was successful enough that the attendees acclaimed it the "First Annual" Space Development Conference and voted to hold the second meeting in Houston with Art Dula as chairman.
The International Space Development Conference covers several broad areas of study related to building a spacefaring civilization, including transportation to and through space, technology needed to live and work in space, and Earth-based activities to advocate for or educate others about space development. The overall theme for ISDC 2011 is "From the Ground Up," emphasizing the tools, resources, and social activities that must be accomplished to make a spacefaring civilization a reality. Participants are encouraged not just to describe an ideal "future state," but to think about the technical, economic, or advocacy steps that must be accomplished to achieve a specific goal.
Although the northern Alabama region was hit by tornadoes April 27, resulting in widespread damage and many deaths and injuries, ISDC planners found that local electrical power had been restored to the Von Braun Center and Embassy Suites venues in Huntsville, and restored to the rest of the area within a week or two. Therefore, ISDC 2011 occurred on scheduled. Robert Bigelow, founder and president of Bigelow Aerospace, was the ISDC's Honored Keynote speaker at the Governors' Dinner and Gala. Mr. Bigelow also received the NSS Space Pioneers award for Space Development. The Space Pioneer Award for Science and Engineering was presented to the X-51A WaveRider Team while the prestigious Wernher von Braun award went to the JAXA Hayabusa Team. The von Braun award was presented by Frederick I. Ordway III.
2007
Official ISDC 2007 logo "From Old Frontiers to New"
The theme for ISDC 2007 was "From Old Frontiers to New: Celebrating 50 Years of Space Flight" and was hosted by The National Space Society of North Texas chapter of Dallas, Texas over the Memorial Day weekend of May 24–28, 2007.
For the third straight year the presenting sponsor for ISDC '07 was the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 2007's ISDC held two pre-conference events; the Symposium on Space Venture Finance on Thursday, May 24 and the bi-annual meeting of the Aerospace Technology Working Group (ATWG) from May 22 – 24.
ISDC 2007 included programs, presentations and exhibits focused on space exploration and settlement, astronomy and scientific research, commercial space ventures, space tourism, and other exciting topics.
The conference also featured displays of real spaceflight hardware, such as Armadillo Aerospace’s historic 'Quad' rocket vehicle. The Quad vehicles were built by space entrepreneur John Carmack and his Armadillo Aerospace team from Mesquite, Texas. One of the Quads, named "Pixel," recently competed in the WireflyX Prize Cup in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Other conference events included DPRG robot challenges, a game room, the premiere of "Postcards from the Future" and other space movies, filk singing, a kids program, book signings, a space art show and sale, and space-related exhibits. Some exhibits and the space art show were free to the public. For more information see the official website:
ISDC public webcasts
ISDC 2007 was broadcast "live" from Dallas via streaming video from May 25 through May 28, 2007 – courtesy of the helloWorld[permanent dead link] website. Available to anyone with access to a computer and internet connection, the general public was able to follow key remarks and presentations by running their computer's mouse or cursor over the TV broadcast tower graphic entitled "Shows" and clicking the "On the Air Now!" link. Archived files of past ISDC conferences can also be reviewed via the IslandOne website.
2006
"...And we had the most successful ISDC ever..."
Although typically held over the Memorial Day holiday weekend, ISDC '06 was moved up to the first weekend in May to coincide with Space Day activities sponsored nationwide by Lockheed Martin.
Additionally, the National Space Society teamed up with the Space Tourism Society to host the 2nd annual ORBIT Awards, celebrating leadership in space tourism on the occasion of the fifth anniversary of Mr. Dennis Tito's historic flight as the world's first private space traveler, and the 25th anniversaries of STS-1, the first Space Shuttle mission and the ISDC.
NSS members met and debated aerospace pioneers like Burt Rutan, Elon Musk, and Peter Diamandis, while hearing the latest on the explorations of Saturn, Mars and extrasolar planets. A few of the many highlights: Presenting sponsor Transformational Space brought a new twenty-foot mockup of its new space vehicle, the t/Space CXT.
Apollo 11 was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and Lunar Module Pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, and Armstrong became the first person to step onto the Moon's surface six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21 at 02:56 UTC. Aldrin joined him 19 minutes later, and they spent about two and a quarter hours together exploring the site they had named Tranquility Base upon landing. Armstrong and Aldrin collected 47.5 pounds (21.5 kg) of lunar material to bring back to Earth as pilot Michael Collins flew the Command Module Columbia in lunar orbit, and were on the Moon's surface for 21 hours, 36 minutes before lifting off to rejoin Columbia.
The Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV) is a battery-powered four-wheeled rover used on the Moon in the last three missions of the American Apollo program during 1971 and 1972. It is popularly called the Moon buggy, a play on the term "dune buggy".
Edward Higgins White II was an American aeronautical engineer, United States Air Force officer, test pilot, and NASA astronaut. He was a member of the crews of Gemini 4 and Apollo 1.
Buzz Aldrin is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. He was the Lunar Module Eagle pilot on the 1969 Apollo 11 mission and became the second person to walk on the Moon after mission commander Neil Armstrong.
William Alison "Bill" Anders is an American former United States Air Force (USAF) major general, former electrical engineer, nuclear engineer, NASA astronaut, and businessman. In December 1968, he was a member of the crew of Apollo 8, the first three people to leave low Earth orbit and travel to the Moon. Along with fellow astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, Anders circled the Moon ten times, and broadcast live images and commentary back to Earth. During one of the mission's lunar orbits, he took the iconic Earthrise photograph.
Michael Collins was an American astronaut who flew the Apollo 11 command module Columbia around the Moon in 1969 while his crewmates, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, made the first crewed landing on the surface. He was also a test pilot and major general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.
The National Space Society (NSS) is an American international nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy. It is a member of the Independent Charities of America and an annual participant in the Combined Federal Campaign. The society's vision is: "People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity."
John Leonard Swigert Jr. was an American NASA astronaut, test pilot, mechanical engineer, aerospace engineer, United States Air Force pilot, and politician. In April 1970, as command module pilot of Apollo 13, he became one of 24 astronauts who flew to the Moon. Ironically, due to the "slingshot" route around the Moon they chose to safely return to Earth, the Apollo 13 astronauts flew further away from Earth than any other astronauts before or since, though they had to abort the Moon landing.
George Michael Low was an administrator at NASA and the 14th president of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Low was one of the senior NASA officials who made decisions as manager of the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office in the Apollo program of crewed missions to the Moon.
The Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) was a plan for space exploration announced on January 14, 2004 by President George W. Bush. It was conceived as a response to the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, the state of human spaceflight at NASA, and as a way to regain public enthusiasm for space exploration.
On June 3, 2004, thirteen United States space advocacy groups, industry associations and space policy organizations formed an umbrella organization known as the Space Exploration Alliance. Its primary purpose is to support the White House's plan to refocus NASA's human space activities toward exploration beyond low Earth orbit.
Yvonne Darlene Cagle is an American physician, professor, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel, and NASA astronaut. Cagle joined NASA as an astronaut in 1996. She is one of six African American woman astronauts.
NASA proposed several concept moonbases for achieving a permanent presence of humans on the Moon since the late 1950s. Research and exploration of the Moon has been a large focus of the organization since the Apollo program. NASA's peak budget was in 1964-1965, when it comprised 4% of all federal spending in service of the Apollo Moon landing project. Though lunar landings ever since the conclusion of the Apollo program in 1972 have ceased, interest in establishing a permanent habitation on the lunar surface or beyond low Earth orbit has remained steady. Recently, renewed interest in lunar landing has led to increased funding and project planning. NASA requested an increase in the 2020 budget of $1.6 billion, in order to make another crewed mission to the Moon under the Artemis program by 2025, followed by a sustained presence on the Moon by 2028. A crew was selected for the planned crewed mission, Artemis II, in April of 2023.
Gerald D. Griffin is an American aeronautical engineer and former NASA official, who served as a flight director during the Apollo program and director of Johnson Space Center, succeeding Chris Kraft in 1982.
Space architecture is the theory and practice of designing and building inhabited environments in outer space. This mission statement for space architecture was developed at the World Space Congress in Houston in 2002 by members of the Technical Aerospace Architecture Subcommittee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). The architectural approach to spacecraft design addresses the total built environment. It is mainly based on the field of engineering, but also involves diverse disciplines such as physiology, psychology, and sociology.
Eugene F. Lally was American aerospace engineer. He worked in the early 1960s on U.S. interplanetary space programs. Beside his space programs he was also an inventor and developed non-space products with his own company Dynamic Development Co. which he founded in the early 1960s. He later became an active amateur photographer and lubrication product entrepreneur. Lally contributed articles for popular space, astrobiology, photography, travel, and archaeology magazines. He was also a speaker at local space exploration and extraterrestrial intelligence (UFO) society meetings where he gave first-hand accounts of the early U.S. space program, commentaries on current U.S. space exploration activities and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
David Charles Napier Webb was a consultant to government agencies, corporations, universities, and nonprofit organizations on various aspects of aerospace development, technology, and education. Webb created an interdisciplinary Space Studies program at the University of North Dakota,and later established the Earth System Science Institute, which is now known as the Department of Earth System Science and Policy.
Frank Dirceu Braun (Niterói) is a Brazilian and American journalist, author and entrepreneur. He is a writer and producer, with over 25 years of experience in both print and broadcast journalism. Braun has worked as an Associate Producer for 60 Minutes, and as an Investigative Producer for the CBS affiliated stations. He has covered the space programs of Brazil, the United States, and China for over a decade. Braun has also written for United Press International, CBS. News, Space News, and Business Week magazine.
William Carpentier is a Canadian-American physician best known as the flight surgeon assigned to the United States' Apollo 11 mission, the first manned spacecraft to land on the Moon. Carpentier says that this was the highlight of his career. In the months following the Apollo 11 mission, Carpentier became known as a world famous physician. He later went into nuclear medicine research.
Apollo 11 was the first human spaceflight to land on the Moon. In the decades after its 1969 mission took place, widespread celebrations have been held to celebrate its anniversaries.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
