British Interplanetary Society
Overview
Space advocacy
Space advocacy can be described as the general position supporting, pleading or arguing for the idea or cause of space exploration and settlements...
organisation in the world whose aim is exclusively to support and promote astronautics
Astronautics
Astronautics, and related astronautical engineering, is the theory and practice of navigation beyond the Earth's atmosphere. In other words, it is the science and technology of space flight....
and space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
.
It is a non-profit organisation with headquarters in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and is financed by members' contributions. BIS publishes the academic journal Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society is a technical scientific journal, first published in 1934. JBIS is concerned with space science and space technology...
and the magazine Spaceflight
Spaceflight (magazine)
Spaceflight is the monthly magazine of the British Interplanetary Society . It was first published in 1956, a year before the launch of Sputnik 1, and has been reporting on space exploration topics ever since....
.
It is situated on South Lambeth Road (A203
A203 road
The A203 is a primary A road in South London. It runs from Brixton to Vauxhall connecting the A23 and A3 with Vauxhall Bridge, the Albert Embankment as well as the London Inner Ring Road for travel across the River Thames. Between Brixton and Stockwell tube station it is known as Stockwell Road...
) near Vauxhall station
Vauxhall station
Vauxhall station is a National Rail, London Underground and London Buses interchange station in central London. It is at the Vauxhall Cross road junction opposite the southern approach to Vauxhall Bridge over the River Thames in the London district of Vauxhall...
, and not far from the Secret Intelligence Service
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
building.
The BIS was preceded by the American Interplanetary Society
American Rocket Society
The American Rocket Society began its existence on April 4, 1930, under the name of the American Interplanetary Society. It was founded by science fiction writers G. Edward Pendray, David Lasser, Laurence Manning and others. The members originally conducted their own rocket experiments in New York...
(founded 1930), the German VfR
VfR
VfR is a German-language acronym that may appear in various contexts:*Verein für Raumschiffahrt, en:Society for Space Travel, a historical amateur rocket club in Germany...
, and Soviet rocket research groups, but unlike these it never became absorbed into a national industry.
When originally formed in January 1933, the BIS aimed not only to promote and raise the public profile of astronautics, but also to undertake practical experimentation into rocketry along similar lines to the organisations above.
Discussions
