Welcome to the NSS blog. Feel free to comment on any post (comments are moderated so won’t show up immediately). Contributors to the NSS Blog are unpaid volunteers. Unless specifically labeled an NSS position or press release, all blog posts represent the views of the author and not of NSS, even if written by an NSS officer.
Category: Non-Fiction Reviewed by: Bart Leahy From Ad Astra Winter 2012 Title: Colonizing Mars: The Mission to the Red Planet Authors: Robert Zubrin, Harrison Schmitt,...
Category: Fiction Reviewed by: Marianne Dyson From Ad Astra Winter 2012 Title: 2312 Author: Kim Stanley Robinson NSS Amazon link for this book Format: Hardcover...
The latest paper in the NSS Journal of Space Settlement is “Paths to Space Settlement” by Al Globus. ABSTRACT A number of firms are developing...
European Space Agency (ESA) Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) Image Credit: ESA / CNES / Arianespace / Photo optique video du CSG The European Space Agency...
My creation. According to our buddies at Caltech and JPL, Mars Curiosity has made a huge Mars discovery that “is gonna be one for the...
International playboy Jack Swigert in a 1966 NASA portrait, featuring an autopen signature. Emily Carney is a writer, space enthusiast, and creator of the This...
When smoke gets in your eyes: 1965 Life magazine photo. In September, John Young’s autobiography Forever Young, edited by Neil Armstrong’s biographer James Hansen, was...
To my fellow veterans, regardless of branch…thank you for your service. Emily (Howlett) Carney, USN, 1997 – 2003 Emily Carney is a writer, space enthusiast,...
By Michael Mackowski There are many ways folks express their interest in the space program. Some space enthusiasts read everything they can find and often...
Could you love a man who lived with danger? Read on. At the ASF Astronaut Autograph Show this weekend, Francis French had some copies of...
Me talking Apollo 12 party times with Dick Gordon (left) and Sweet Al Bean (right.) Thank you, Kristen, for taking this photo! ALAN BEAN (Apollo...
“What is this about space hipsters? SUMBITCH.” Gene Cernan, Last Man in Your Face™, with me, November 3, 2012. So, I went to my first...
This long essay defends the NSS Vision against those who, like the author of the book being reviewed, think “we shouldn’t colonize Mars or the Moon, or even vacation there.” Ben Bramble, an Australian philosopher who teaches at Australian National University, has penned a YAASS (Yet Another Anti-Space-Settlement) book. These books are multiplying like flies, so space settlement advocates must be gaining ground to generate such an abundant response.
In HOTOL & Skylon: The Story of Britain’s Spaceplanes, Rob Coppinger covers the story of both in great detail, with the reminiscences of many who played integral roles in these ambitious programs. The book shines when it captures the enthusiasm and excitement of those involved, and there are extensive quotes from many who devoted years of work on these projects.
Anyone seeking a short but comprehensive introduction to human spaceflight would do well to start with this book. It reviews its history, highlights the accomplishments and tragedies, and describes the equipment used. It also looks at living in space, what space travelers experience, and how they work.
Back in 1966, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon. Apogee Books has provided an English-language NASA translation of a detailed report originally released by the USSR Academy of Sciences.
The National Space Society has just released a Position Paper on Selected Space Environmental Sustainability Issues. Below is the Conclusion section. The full paper can...
By Robin Scott NSS Chapter Middle Tennessee Space Society (MTSS) President Chuck Schlemm performs outreach, directly contacting about 560 attendees (STEM teachers, school faculty, students,...
By Burt Dicht NSS Space Coast Correspondent Some weeks in spaceflight are just busy. This one was something more. Over a period of four days,...
By Burt Dicht NSS Space Coast Correspondent A large anvil cloud hanging over Florida’s Space Coast added some uncertainty to the final hours of the...
Applications open 1 Oct – 1 Dec, 2026 The National Space Society’s Global Space Debates is a unique, 100% virtual program that brings high school...
