Huntsville Alabama L5 Society (HAL5) - Project HALO

The National Space Society urges NASA to move swiftly on the Commercial LEO Destinations RFP and commit to immediately fly astronauts on commercial stations upon completion

The National Space Society (NSS) today applauded NASA’s decision to withdraw its proposed “core module” concept for the Commercial LEO Destinations (CLD) program, calling it a demonstration of exactly the kind of rigorous, evidence-based decision-making that the American space program deserves. NSS now urges NASA to move…

Reviewed by: Mark Lardas
Title: A Future Spacefaring Society: Establishing Human Life Beyond Earth
Author: Chris Carberry and Rick Zucker (Editors)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 367
Publisher: Springer
Date: May, 2026
Retail Price: $32.99
ISBN: 978-3032114655
Find this book

What will it take to make humans a spacefaring society? We are at the cusp of having people leave Earth in numbers, building an orbital industrial infrastructure and establishing human settlements in space. This book investigates…

Opinion
By Burt Dicht
NSS Space Coast Correspondent

On April 19, I was at Jetty Park in Cape Canaveral and watched Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket thunder into the morning sky on its third flight (illustrated above before launch). It was a spectacular launch. The massive booster performed as expected and successfully landed on the recovery barge in the Atlantic Ocean, demonstrating once again the promise of Blue Origin’s reusable launch system.

The mission was not without challenges. While the…

From flags and footprints to foundations, NASA’s Moon Base is our Space Station moment: A report on the May 26 NASA press conference

By Burt Dicht
NSS Space Coast Correspondent

On January 25, 1984, President Ronald Reagan stood before a joint session of Congress and outlined an ambitious new direction for America’s space program:

“America has always been greatest when we dared to be great. We can reach for greatness again. We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space…

The 44th Annual International Space Development Conference is in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026

The National Space Society is pleased to announce Keith Cowing as a guest and honoree at its 44th annual International Space Development Conference® (ISDC®) in McLean, VA, on June 4-7, 2026. Cowing will receive the NSS’s Space Pioneer Award for excellence in mass media.

“We are delighted to honor Keith Cowing for a decades-long career of deeply insightful and informative daily analysis of space programs…

By Burt Dicht
NSS Managing Director of Membership
Image: Starship V3 liftoff captured by space photographer Richard Gallagher (rpg-photography.com)

Yesterday evening, May 22, at 6:30 p.m. EDT, Starship Flight 12 thundered away from Pad 2 at Starbase on the Texas Gulf Coast, marking the first flight of SpaceX’s significantly upgraded Starship Version 3 vehicle. Standing 408 feet tall, the world’s largest and most powerful launch system rose from the launch pad in spectacular fashion, beginning a…

First Flight of Version 3 Starship Marks Significant Progress Toward Routine Space Access

The National Space Society congratulates SpaceX on the successful completion of Starship Flight 12, the twelfth integrated test flight of the world’s most powerful rocket and the debut of the heavily redesigned next-generation Version 3 Starship and Super Heavy booster. The rocket lifted off from Starbase in South Texas at about 5:30 Central Time on Friday with no major delays. The original launch date was…

The National Space Society invites you to the next Space Forum

Thursday, May 21, 2026, 8:00 pm to 9:15 pm EST

NOTE NEW TIME!

With special guest

Space Historian and Author

The National Space Society invites you to a special Space Forum with Stephen C. Smith, author of Return to Launch: Florida and America’s Space Industry. Smith’s new work is the first book to systematically trace how…

By Burt Dicht, NSS Managing Director of Membership
with Dale Skran, NSS COO
Image: Aerial view of Starship launch rehearsal (courtesy SpaceX)

For the past several years, SpaceX Starship test flights have often been viewed through the lens of dramatic launches, explosive failures, and critical engineering milestones. But Starship Flight 12 may represent something fundamentally different: the moment the program begins transitioning from experimental prototypes to a reusable heavy-lift launch…

The 44th Annual International Space Development Conference is in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026

The National Space Society is pleased to announce a keynote presentation by Gerry Griffin at its 44th annual International Space Development Conference in McLean, VA, June 4-7, 2026. Griffin was a flight controller during the Gemini program and a Flight Director on all the Apollo flights, from Apollo 7 through Apollo 17, leading the “Gold Team.”

Dr. Pascal Lee, chair of ISDC 2026, said, “The Apollo…