The 44th Annual International Space Development Conference is in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026
The National Space Society is pleased to announce its Space Pioneer Award for Firefly Aerospace’s science and engineering success with its first lunar mission, Blue Ghost Mission 1. Firefly will accept the award at the 44th annual International Space Development Conference in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026.
Conference chair Dr. Pascal Lee said, “Firefly Aerospace succeeded in its first attempt to soft land on the Moon and operate a complex suite of NASA science and technology instruments for an entire lunar day. It is the first commercial company to accomplish this feat, heralding a new era in free enterprise and private ventures on the Moon. This award celebrates the magnificent achievement of the men and women behind the mission.”
As part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, Firefly’s Blue Ghost mission landed on the Moon on March 2, 2025—the first commercial lunar lander to do so successfully. In addition to lunar landers, Firefly also develops small and medium-lift launch vehicles and orbital vehicles. Its multiple advanced designs for rocket engines are pushing the envelope for efficient launch vehicles and the precise delivery of orbital payloads.
Conference co-chair and Editor in Chief of the NSS quarterly magazine, Ad Astra, Rod Pyle, added, “The technologies driving our future in space will take many shapes and forms, and offer a range of capabilities. We laud Firefly’s first completely successful private lunar landing. Their contributions to the new space age reflect bold thinking and a willingness to try daring things.”
About the ISDC
The ISDC is the annual conference of the National Space Society (NSS), bringing together well over 1000 leading executives, managers, engineers, scientists, educators, students, and laypeople from a wide variety of backgrounds to join in working toward the common goal of developing a spacefaring civilization. The conference has attracted tens of thousands of people from dozens of countries and featured important thought leaders from NASA, commercial space, media, academia, and other space-related fields. The theme for ISDC 2026 is Space for Us All.
Subject areas for ISDC 2026 include the exploration, development, and settlement of the Moon, Mars, and cislunar space; deep space exploration; innovative spaceflight technology; the commercialization of space and space infrastructure; life support systems; collaboration in space; living in space; space solar power; the problem of space debris and mediation solutions; planetary defense; space law; and both national and international space policy, among others. For more information, visit the ISDC website at isdc.nss.org.
