Founded | 1987 |
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Type | Space advocacy, 501(c)(3) Education |
Location |
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Area served | Worldwide |
Website | space |
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." [1]
The society supports human spaceflight and robotic spaceflight, by both public (e.g., NASA, Russian Federal Space Agency and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) and private sector (e.g., SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, etc.) organizations.
The major goals of the National Space Society are:
Defending Earth: Protecting humanity from dangerous space objects (asteroid impact avoidance).
Clean Energy from Space: Enabling everyone to benefit from space solar power.
Developing Space: Making the vast resources of space available to all.
Space Settlement: Moving civilization into space and making us an interplanetary species.
The society's current president is Isaac Arthur.
The society was established in the United States on March 28, 1987, by the merger of the National Space Institute, founded in 1974 by Wernher von Braun, [2] and the L5 Society, founded in 1975 based on the concepts of Gerard K. O'Neill. [3]
The society has an elected volunteer Board of Directors and a Board of Governors. The Board of Directors provides day-to-day operational oversight for the organization, and the Board of Governors provide strategic oversight and advisory to the Directors in the form of recommendations and guidance with respect to the broad strategies, overall policies, objectives, and goals of the Society. The Chairman of the Board of Governors is Karlton Johnson, USAF-Retired. [4] In this capacity, he provides overall senior executive leadership to enhance the effectiveness and performance of the Board of Governors in support of the Society’s goals, imparts advice and guidance to the Board of Directors to enhance its conduct of business operations, and serves as the primary spokesperson for the Board of Governors. The Chairman of the Board of Directors is Kirby Ikin. Miss Anita Gale is currently the organization’s Chief Executive Officer.
Serving the space community for nearly 50 years in its various forms, the National Space Society has remained a conduit for education, substantive dialogue, and impact player in the commercial and private space sector communities. The organization garnered the "Five-Star Best in America" award by the Independent Charities of America organization in 2005.
In 2014, the National Space Society launched [5] the Enterprise In Space [6] program in order to ignite interest in space and science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) education.
In 2023, the National Space Society elected Isaac Arthur as President for a two-year term. [7]
The Society publishes a magazine Ad Astra , which appears quarterly in print and electronic form. [8]
The society hosts an annual International Space Development Conference (ISDC) held in major cities throughout the United States, often during or close to the Memorial Day weekend.
As listed in each quarterly issue of Ad Astra , a large number of NSS chapters exist around the world. The chapters may serve a local area such as a school, city or town, or have a topical or special interest focus, such as a rocketry or astronomy club, or educational/community outreach program. Chapters are the peripheral organs of the society by organizing events, communicating with the public on the merits and benefits of space exploration, and working to educate political leaders.[ citation needed ]
A strong contingent of chapters is located in Australia. Prior to the NSI-L5 merger, the L5 Society had been developing chapters around the world, and in Australia, three chapters had been established. The 'Southern Cross L5 Society' was formed in 1979, with groups in Sydney, Adelaide (in 1984) and Brisbane (in 1986). It was decided in late 1989 to create the National Space Society of Australia (NSSA) which could act as an umbrella organization
Similar efforts have taken hold in Brazil, Canada, and Mexico, as well as European countries that have a strong aerospace presence. These include France, Germany, and the Netherlands.
The society administers a number of awards. These are typically presented during the annual International Space Development Conference that NSS hosts. These awards are in recognition of individual volunteer effort, awards for NSS chapter work, the "Space Pioneer" award, [9] and two significant awards which are presented in alternate years.
The Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award is given in even-numbered years (2004, 2006, etc.) to "honor those individuals who have made significant, lifetime contributions to the creation of a free spacefaring civilization."
Heinlein Award Winners: [10]
The NSS Von Braun Award is given in odd-numbered years (1993, 1995, etc.) "to recognize excellence in management of and leadership for a space-related project where the project is significant and successful and the manager has the loyalty of a strong team that he or she has created." Awardees include: [13]
Von Braun Award Winners:
Other scholarships and award activities NSS provides or assists with include the following awards:
The National Space Society is a founding executive member of the Alliance for Space Development. [14]
The Stanford torus is a proposed NASA design for a space habitat capable of housing 10,000 to 140,000 permanent residents.
Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. was an American painter, designer, and illustrator. His paintings inspired the American space program, and they have been influential in science fiction art and illustration. A pioneering creator of astronomical art, along with the French astronomer-artist Lucien Rudaux, Bonestell has been dubbed the "Father of Modern Space art".
The National Speleological Society (NSS) is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally headquartered in Washington D.C., its current offices are in Huntsville, Alabama. The organization engages in the research and scientific study, restoration, exploration, and protection of caves. It has more than 10,000 members in more than 250 grottos.
Willy Otto Oskar Ley was a German and American science writer and proponent of cryptozoology. The crater Ley on the far side of the Moon is named in his honor.
Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling, and the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which in 2006 set the world record for the fastest and longest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in history. In 2004, Rutan's sub-orbital spaceplane design SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space, winning the Ansari X-Prize that year for achieving the feat twice within a two-week period.
The National Space Institute was a space advocacy group, the first of its kind, established by Wernher von Braun to help maintain the public's support for the United States space program. It has since merged, in 1987, with the L5 Society founded by fans of the Space Colonization and Industrialization work of Gerard K. O'Neill, to become the present-day National Space Society.
Gerard Kitchen O'Neill was an American physicist and space activist. As a faculty member of Princeton University, he invented a device called the particle storage ring for high-energy physics experiments. Later, he invented a magnetic launcher called the mass driver. In the 1970s, he developed a plan to build human settlements in outer space, including a space habitat design known as the O'Neill cylinder. He founded the Space Studies Institute, an organization devoted to funding research into space manufacturing and colonization.
Space advocacy is supporting or advocating for a human use of outer space. Purposes advocated can reach from space exploration, or commercial use of space to even space settlement. There are many different individuals and organizations dedicated to space advocacy. They are usually active in educating the public on space related subjects, lobbying governments for increased funding in space-related activities or supporting private space activities. They also recruit members, fund projects, and provide information for their membership and interested visitors. They are sub-divided into three categories depending on their primary work: practice, advocacy, and theory.
The International Space Development Conference (ISDC) is the annual conference of the National Space Society (NSS). Now in its 37th 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.
The L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn Meinel and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Gerard K. O'Neill.
Ad Astra is the quarterly magazine of the National Space Society (NSS). The name literally means "To the Stars".
Maxwell White Hunter II was a prominent American aerospace engineer. He worked on the design of the Douglas B-42 and Douglas B-43 bombers, the Honest John, Nike-Ajax, and Nike-Zeus missiles, the Thor IRBM, and on parts of the Strategic Defense Initiative. In later years he worked on space-launch vehicles and was a proponent of Single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) designs. He was honored in 1995 by the National Space Society for lifelong contributions to the technology of spaceflight.
Konrad Dannenberg was a German-American rocket pioneer and member of the German rocket team brought to the United States after World War II.
Frederick Ira Ordway III was an American space scientist and author of visionary books on spaceflight.
The Mars Project is a 1952 non-fiction scientific book by the German rocket physicist, astronautics engineer and space architect, Wernher von Braun. It was translated from the original German by Henry J. White and first published in English by the University of Illinois Press in 1953.
The Rocket City Space Pioneers (RCSP) was one of 29 teams from 17 different countries officially registered and in the competition for the Google Lunar X PRIZE (GLXP) during 2010–2012.
Michael J. Neufeld is a historian and author. He chaired the Space History Division at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum from 2007 to 2011, and continues to be a curator there.
Geoffrey Notkin is an American actor, author, and entrepreneur. Notkin is known as one of the hosts of Meteorite Men, a documentary reality television series from Science Channel, which ran for three seasons. He is the president of the National Space Society, and holds a seat on the National Space Society Board of Governors. He is a long-time member of The Explorer's Club. In 2013, Notkin's Twitter account was nominated for a Shorty Award, honoring the best in social media. Notkin has also been interviewed on the Today show, Coast to Coast, and NASA Edge TV, and is a regular guest speaker at TusCon, an intimate science fiction, fantasy, and horror convention held annually in Tucson, Arizona.