The National Space Society (NSS) is an American international nonprofit 501(c)(3) 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 and robotic spaceflight, by both the public (e.g.,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

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) and private sector (e.g., SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic, etc.) organizations.

History

The society was established in the United States on March 28, 1987, by the merger of the National Space Institute, 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. The society has an elected volunteer Board of Directors 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 Aerial warfare, air military branch, 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 ...

Colonel Karlton Johnson (retired). The chairman of the Board of Directors is Kirby Ikin. The current president is Michelle Hanlon. 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 (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, or educational/

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, ...

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. 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 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 Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

(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 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, 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 *2012 - Dr. Stephen Hawking *2010 - Dr. Peter Diamandis *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 recor ...

*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 *1998 - Dr. Carl Sagan *1996 - Dr. Buzz Aldrin *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-fueled rocket. Goddard successfully laun ...

*1992 - Gene Roddenberry *1990 - Dr.

*1988 - Sir Arthur C. Clarke *1986 - Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill

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 *2017 - Prof. Johann-Dietrich Wörner *2015 - Mars Curiosity Rover project Team *2013 - Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam *2011 - JAXA

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 fo ...

Team *2009 - Elon Musk *2007 - Steven W. Squyres *2005 -

*2001 - Donna Shirley *1999 - Robert C. Seamans, Jr. *1997 - George Mueller *1995 - Max Hunter *1993 - Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger

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.

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.