The National Space Society (NSS) is an American international nonprofit

501(c)(3) A 501(c)(3) organization is a United States corporation, trust, unincorporated association or other type of organization exempt from federal income tax under section 501(c)(3) of Title 26 of the United States Code. It is one of the 29 types of 50 ...

educational and scientific organization specializing in

space advocacy 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 dedicat ...

. It is a member of the Independent Charities of America and an annual participant in the

Combined Federal Campaign The Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) is the workplace giving program of the federal government of the United States. The program is authorized by executive order 12353 (as amended) of March 23, 1982, and is overseen by the United States Office of ...

. 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." The society supports

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

and robotic spaceflight, by both the public (e.g.,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Russian Federal Space Agency The State Space Corporation "Roscosmos" (russian: Государственная корпорация по космической деятельности «Роскосмос»), commonly known simply as Roscosmos (russian: Роскосмос) ...

and

Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

) and private sector (e.g.,

SpaceX Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is an American spacecraft manufacturer, launcher, and a satellite communications corporation headquartered in Hawthorne, California. It was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk with the stated goal of ...

Blue Origin Blue Origin, LLC is an American private spaceflight, privately funded aerospace manufacturer and sub-orbital spaceflight services company headquartered in Kent, Washington. Founded in 2000 by Jeff Bezos, the founder and executive chairman of Am ...

Virgin Galactic Virgin Galactic is an American spaceflight company founded by Richard Branson and his British Virgin Group retains an 11.9% stake through Virgin Investments Limited. It is headquartered in California, and operates from New Mexico. The compan ...

, etc.) organizations.

History

The society was established in the United States on March 28, 1987, by the merger of the

National Space Institute The National Space Institute was a space advocacy group, the first of its kind, established by Dr. 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 f ...

, founded in 1974 by Dr.

Wernher von Braun Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( , ; 23 March 191216 June 1977) was a German and American aerospace engineer and space architect. He was a member of the Nazi Party and Allgemeine SS, as well as the leading figure in the develop ...

, and the

L5 Society The L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn Meinel and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Gerard K. O'Neill. In 1987, the L5 Society merged with the National Space Institute to form the National Space Society. Name The name ...

, founded in 1975 based on the concepts of Dr.

Gerard K. O'Neill Gerard Kitchen O'Neill (February 6, 1927 – April 27, 1992) 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. L ...

. The society has an elected volunteer

Board of Directors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...

and a

Board of Governors A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organi ...

. The chairman of the Board of Governors is

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Colonel Karlton Johnson (retired). The chairman of the Board of Directors is Kirby Ikin. The current president is

Michelle Hanlon Michelle Lea Desyin Slawecki Hanlon (born August 8, 1965) is an American space lawyer and space law professor. She is the co-founder, president and chief executive officer of For All Moonkind, president of the National Space Society, co-director ...

. The National Space Society was awarded the "Five-Star Best in America" award by the Independent Charities of America organization in 2005. In 2014, the National Space Society launched the Enterprise In Space program. In order to ignite interest in space and science, technology, engineering, art and math (STEAM) education, Enterprise In Space plans to design, build, and launch a 3D-printed spacecraft into Earth orbit carrying 100+ experiments from K to postgraduate student teams. The orbiter is planned to be returned to Earth with the experiments for the student teams to analyze.

''Ad Astra''

The Society publishes a magazine '' Ad Astra'', which appears quarterly in print and electronic form.

International Space Development Conference

The society hosts an annual

International Space Development Conference 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 ef ...

(ISDC) held in major cities throughout the United States, often during or close to the

Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day) is a federal holiday in the United States for mourning the U.S. military personnel who have fought and died while serving in the United States armed forces. It is observed on the last Monda ...

weekend.

NSS Chapters network

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

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

ry or

astronomy club A list of notable groups devoted to promoting astronomy research and education. Africa * African Astronomical Society South Africa * Astronomical Society of Southern Africa Asia China * Chinese Astronomical Society India * Akash Mitra Mandal * ...

, or

educational Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...

community A community is a social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place, norms, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given geographical area (e.g. a country, village, tow ...

outreach Outreach is the activity of providing services to any population that might not otherwise have access to those services. A key component of outreach is that the group providing it is not stationary, but mobile; in other words, it involves meetin ...

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.

National Space Society of Australia

A strong contingent of chapters is located in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. 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 Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

(in 1984) and

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

(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. including France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Awards

The society administers a number of awards. These are typically presented during the annual

that NSS hosts. These awards are in recognition of individual volunteer effort, awards for NSS chapter work, the "Space Pioneer" award, and two significant awards which are presented in alternate years.

Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award

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:'' *2018 - Dr.

Freeman Dyson Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum m ...

*2016 - Dr.

Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s ...

*2014 -

Elon Musk Elon Reeve Musk ( ; born June 28, 1971) is a business magnate and investor. He is the founder, CEO and chief engineer of SpaceX; angel investor, CEO and product architect of Tesla, Inc.; owner and CEO of Twitter, Inc.; founder of The Bori ...

*2012 - Dr. Stephen Hawking *2010 - Dr.

Peter Diamandis Peter H. Diamandis (; born May 20, 1961) is a Greek Americans, Greek-American engineer, physician, and entrepreneur best known for being founder and chairman of the X Prize Foundation, cofounder and executive chairman of Singularity University a ...

*2008 -

Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (; born June 17, 1943) 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- ...

*2006 -

Brigadier General Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

Charles E. "Chuck" Yeager *2004 - Capt.

James Lovell James Arthur Lovell Jr. (; born March 25, 1928) is an American retired astronaut, naval aviator, test pilot and mechanical engineer. In 1968, as command module pilot of Apollo 8, he became, with Frank Borman and William Anders, one of the f ...

*2002 -

Robert Zubrin Robert Zubrin (; born April 9, 1952) is an American aerospace engineer, author, and advocate for human exploration of Mars. He and his colleague at Martin Marietta, David Baker, were the driving force behind Mars Direct, a proposal in a 1990 res ...

*2000 -

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aeronautical engineer who became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. He was also a naval aviator, test pilot, and university professor. ...

*1998 - Dr.

Carl Sagan Carl Edward Sagan (; ; November 9, 1934December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. His best known scientific contribution is research on ext ...

*1996 - Dr.

Buzz Aldrin Buzz Aldrin (; born Edwin Eugene Aldrin Jr.; January 20, 1930) is an American former astronaut, engineer and fighter pilot. He made three spacewalks as pilot of the 1966 Gemini 12 mission. As the Lunar Module ''Eagle'' pilot on the 1969 A ...

*1994 - Dr.

Robert H. Goddard Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first Liquid-propellant rocket, liquid-fueled rocket. ...

*1992 -

Gene Roddenberry Eugene Wesley Roddenberry Sr. (August 19, 1921 – October 24, 1991) was an American television screenwriter, producer, and creator of ''Star Trek: The Original Series'', its sequel spin-off series ''Star Trek: The Animated Series,'' and ''Sta ...

*1990 - Dr.

*1988 - Sir Arthur C. Clarke *1986 - Dr.

NSS Von Braun Award

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: ''Von Braun Award Winners:'' *2019 -

Tory Bruno Tory Bruno (born November 3, 1961 as Salvatore Thomas Bruno) is an American aerospace engineer and executive. He has been the CEO of United Launch Alliance (ULA) since August 2014. Before ULA, he worked at Lockheed Martin, where he made the trans ...

*2017 - Prof.

Johann-Dietrich Wörner Johann-Dietrich "Jan" Wörner (, born 18 July 1954) is a German civil engineer, university professor and former president of Technische Universität Darmstadt. He served as chairman of the executive board of the German Aerospace Center DLR from ...

*2015 - Mars

Curiosity Rover ''Curiosity'' is a car-sized Mars rover designed to explore the Gale crater on Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission. ''Curiosity'' was launched from Cape Canaveral (CCAFS) on November 26, 2011, at 15:02:00 UTC and lan ...

project Team *2013 - Dr.

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...

*2011 -

JAXA The is the Japanese national air and space agency. Through the merger of three previously independent organizations, JAXA was formed on 1 October 2003. JAXA is responsible for research, technology development and launch of satellites into orb ...

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...

Team *2009 -

*2007 - Steven W. Squyres *2005 -

*2001 - Donna Shirley *1999 -

Robert C. Seamans, Jr. Robert Channing Seamans Jr. (October 30, 1918 – June 28, 2008) was an MIT professor who served as NASA Deputy Administrator and 9th United States United States Secretary of the Air Force, Secretary of the Air Force. Birth and education He wa ...

*1997 - George Mueller *1995 - Max Hunter *1993 - Dr.

Ernst Stuhlinger Ernst Stuhlinger (December 19, 1913 – May 25, 2008) was a German-American atomic, electrical, and rocket scientist. After being brought to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip, he developed guidance systems with Wernher von Braun's t ...

Other scholarships and award activities

Other scholarships and award activities NSS provides or assists with include the following awards: *The Space Pioneer Awards *The NSS-ISU scholarship, worth $12,000, to the

International Space University The International Space University (ISU) is dedicated to the discovery, research, and development of outer space and its applications for peaceful purposes, through international and multidisciplinary education and research programs. ISU was f ...

. Application deadline is December 31 of each year, for study during the following year. The 2005 recipient was Robert Guinness of St. Louis; *EURISY international youth science fiction writing competition (NSS provided US support in 2005), and; *Permission to Dream space adventure for students, teachers, and parents from the

Space Frontier Foundation The Space Frontier Foundation is an American space advocacy nonprofit corporation organized to promote the interests of increased involvement of the private sector, in collaboration with government, in the exploration and development of space. I ...

which is partly sponsored by NSS.

Affiliations

The National Space Society is an alliance organization of th
Meade 4M Community
th
Coalition for Space Exploration
in support of the educational initiatives and outreach of NSS, and a founding executive member of the

Alliance for Space Development The Alliance for Space Development is a space advocacy organization dedicated to influencing space policy towards the goal of permanent human settlements in space. The founding executive members of the Alliance are the National Space Society and ...

References

"National Space Society 'blitzes' Congress on NASA budget"
Space.com - Mar. 5, 2007

SpaceRef.com - Feb. 21, 2007 * ttp://www.guidestar.org/controller/searchResults.gs?action_gsReport=1&npoId=324452 GuideStar - National Space SocietyInformation on NSS listed in GuideStar, a national database of nonprofit organizations

External links

*
''Ad Astra ("To the Stars') The magazine of the National Space Society''

Island One Society
ISDC conferences archive {{Authority control Space organizations Space advocacy organizations International scientific organizations Non-profit organizations based in Washington, D.C. Scientific societies based in the United States 501(c)(3) organizations 1987 in science Organizations established in 1987 1987 establishments in Washington, D.C.