National Space Institute
Encyclopedia
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...
group, the first of its kind, established by Dr. Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
to help maintain the public's support for the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
space program. It has since merged, in 1987, with the L5 Society
L5 Society
The L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Dr Gerard K. O'Neill.The name comes from the and Lagrangian points in the Earth-Moon system proposed as locations for the huge rotating space habitats that Dr O'Neill envisioned...
founded by Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill, to become the present-day National Space Society
National Space Society
The National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
.
Founding
In its earliest stages of formation in June 1974, NSI was first known as the "National Space Association", but was renamed from "Association" to "Institute" in April 1975. Von Braun was the NSI's first president, but shortly became chairman, with journalist and former ABC-TVAmerican Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
20/20 host Hugh Downs
Hugh Downs
Hugh Malcolm Downs is a long time American broadcaster, television host, news anchor, TV producer, author, game show host, and music composer; and is perhaps best known for his role as co-host the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and...
as president. Charles C. Hewitt was the first executive director.
Downs later recalled the beginning of the organization:
At the first annual meeting of the organization, in July 1975, von Braun said:
Initial members serving on the NSI board of directors and governors were a veritable "Who's Who" list that included comedian and entertainer Bob Hope
Bob Hope
Bob Hope, KBE, KCSG, KSS was a British-born American comedian and actor who appeared in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in radio, television and movies. He was also noted for his work with the US Armed Forces and his numerous USO shows entertaining American military personnel...
, singer/songwriter John Denver
John Denver
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. , known professionally as John Denver, was an American singer/songwriter, activist, and humanitarian. After growing up in numerous locations with his military family, Denver began his music career in folk music groups in the late 1960s. His greatest commercial success...
, oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water...
, "Original 7" Project Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
astronaut and Senator John H. Glenn, Jr., Apollo 8
Apollo 8
Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
astronaut Frank Borman
Frank Borman
Frank Frederick Borman, II is a retired NASA astronaut and engineer, best remembered as the Commander of Apollo 8, the first mission to fly around the Moon, making him, along with fellow crew mates Jim Lovell and Bill Anders, the first of only 24 humans to do so...
, Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
astronauts Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin
Buzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
and Michael Collins
Michael Collins (astronaut)
Michael Collins is a former American astronaut and test pilot. Selected as part of the third group of fourteen astronauts in 1963, he flew in space twice. His first spaceflight was Gemini 10, in which he and command pilot John Young performed two rendezvous with different spacecraft and Collins...
, Dr. Michael DeBakey, "Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
" creator Gene Roddenberry
Gene Roddenberry
Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry was an American television screenwriter, producer and futurist, best known for creating the American science fiction series Star Trek. Born in El Paso, Texas, Roddenberry grew up in Los Angeles, California where his father worked as a police officer...
and actress Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols
Nichelle Nichols is an American actress, singer and voice artist. She sang with Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton before turning to acting...
.
Toward the end of 1975, von Braun commented on the state of the general public's interest in the space program.
Relationship with Omni magazine
After some years of publishing a newsletter that became known as INSIght, the Institute entered into an arrangement with the publishers of OmniOmni (magazine)
OMNI was a science and science fiction magazine published in the US and the UK. It contained articles on science fact and short works of science fiction...
magazine whereby all members except life members would receive that magazine as part of their membership. Omni editor Ben Bova
Ben Bova
Benjamin William Bova is an American science-fiction author and editor. He is the recipient of six Hugo Awards for Best Professional Editor for his work at Analog Science Fiction in the 1970's.-Personal life:...
joined the NSI board, then became vice president and finally succeeded Downs as president. He continued as president after the Omni arrangement was discontinued and an agreement was made with Palmer Publications to make their monthly general space interest magazine Space World the official NSI member magazine.
When von Braun died in June 1977, Hugh Downs became Chairman of the Board and, after a time, Ben Bova assumed the presidency. After Hewitt departed in 1980, Courtney Stadd served for a period as General Manager. The Institute was then led until 1984 by executive director Dr. Mark R. Chartrand, followed by Dr. Glen P. Wilson
Glen P. Wilson
Glen Parten Wilson Jr. worked on the Senate space and astronautics committee, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and was executive director emeritus of the National Space Society, a space advocacy group....
.
Merger
Under Bova and Wilson, the arrangements for merger with the L5 SocietyL5 Society
The L5 Society was founded in 1975 by Carolyn and Keith Henson to promote the space colony ideas of Dr Gerard K. O'Neill.The name comes from the and Lagrangian points in the Earth-Moon system proposed as locations for the huge rotating space habitats that Dr O'Neill envisioned...
were concluded, and the name change to National Space Society
National Space Society
The National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
was announced in advance of the merger, with vague explanations to the members. Since the merger, it has been claimed that the name change took place upon the merger, but the historical record to the contrary is clear. Following the merger, Wilson was succeeded by his assistant, Lori Garver
Lori Garver
Lori Beth Garver is the Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration . She was nominated on May 24, 2009, by President Barack Obama, along with Charles Bolden as NASA Administrator...
, who became executive director of the newly formed National Space Society
National Space Society
The National Space Society is an international nonprofit 501, educational, and scientific organization specializing in space advocacy...
. The merged organization has continued to use the NSS name and logo after a joint membership vote was taken in 1987 to determine whether or not to change it to the "Space Frontier Society."
A more complete history of the National Space Institute is contained in a series of articles published in the November/December 1994 issue of Ad Astra
Ad Astra (magazine)
Ad Astra literally means "To the Stars." This award-winning quarterly magazine is published by the National Space Society , a nonprofit, 501 aerospace advocacy and educational institution headquartered in Washington, D.C.....
, the magazine of the NSS.
External links
- L5 News Archive
- A Brief History of the L5 Society
- NSS Chapters Story
- NSS Worldwide
- NSSA History - The 70's
- NSSA History - The 80's
- NSSA History - The 90's
- NSSA History - The Present
- National Space Society Official web site.
- Ad Astra Online Online edition of magazine
- National Space Society Chapters Network Resources for NSS chapters, members and space activists.