National Space Society

“The national space society is a membership based organization.”

“The board of directors is elected by the members.”

“Management and the board treasurer discussed and reviewed the 990 with the independent accountants prior to filing with the irs.”

“Nss has a conflict of interest policy that applies to all officers, board members, and employees. All are required to sign the conflict of interest statement annually. If a conflict was disclosed it would be addressed and handled at the discretion of the executive committee.”

“The organization makes its form 990 available on its website and upon request. The organization makes its form 1023 and form 990-t available upon request.”

“The organization makes its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements available to the public upon request and through the nss website space.nss.org.”

“I. Nss vision the vision of nss is people living and working in thriving communities beyond the earth, and the use of the vast resources of space for the dramatic betterment of humanity. Ii. Nss mission the mission of nss is to promote social, economic, technological, and political change in order to expand civilization beyond earth, to settle space and to use the resulting resources to build a hopeful and prosperous future for humanity. Accordingly, we support steps toward this goal, including human spaceflight, commercial space development, space exploration, space applications, space resource utilization, robotic precursors, defense against asteroids, relevant science, and space settlement oriented education. Iii. Nss rationale a. Survival - of human species and earth's biosphere it is the nature of every form of life, whether animal or plant, to strive to survive. 1. Survival of the human species the human species is encountering increased natural, man-made, and extraterrestrial threats, including disease, resource depletion, pollution, urban violence, terrorism, nuclear war, asteroids, and comets. 2. Survival of earth's biosphere many forms of animal and plant life on earth are suffering increased loss of population and quality habitat because of the growing presence of humans on planet earth, via expansion, pollution, deforestation, fishing, farming, mining, and promotion of certain species of animals and plants.space technology provides both means to monitor threats to life on earth and ways to help curtail them. Space industrialization and settlement provide safety valves to relieve the pressures that cause earth-bound threats. They also provide escape routes in case of catastrophic man-made or extraterrestrial threats. Humanity has inherited the stewardship of the planet earth. It will therefore need the vast resources of outer space to reverse the damage it has caused to the earth's biosphere, and ultimately enhance all life on earth. B. Growth - unlimited room for expansion it is the nature of every form of life, whether animal or plant, to grow and multiply. 1. New habitats for life the human species, as well as all other animal and plant life on earth, needs room to grow and multiply. Earth has a finite supply of land, air, and water, for which humans, animals, and plants must compete. Of all earth species, only humans have or can acquire and utilize the knowledge to create new habitats on other worlds or in space from the raw materials of moons and asteroids. 2. New frontiers for humanity to provide the human species with a new "frontier" for exploration and adventure, and to thought and expression, culture and art, and modes of government. The opening of "the new world" to western civilization brought about an unprecedented 500-year period of growth and experimentation in science, technology, literature, music, art, recreation, and government (including the development and gradual acceptance of democracy). The presence of a frontier led to the development of the "open society" founded on the principles of individual rights and freedoms. Many of these rights and freedoms are being placed under increasingly stringent limitations as human population grows and humanity moves towards a "closed society", where eventually everyone eats the same, speaks the same, and dresses the same. "cultures that do not explore, die!" c. Prosperity - unlimited resources it is the nature of the human species to strive to improve the quality of its many lives and to provide a better future for its children. 1. Improved standards of living to provide humanity with the resources it needs to improve the quality of life for all humans on the planet earth. The majority of humanity lives at an economic level that is far below that of the western democracies. Outer space holds virtually limitless amounts of energy and raw materials, which can be harvested for use both on earth and in space. Quality of life can be improved directly by utilizat”

“Consulting and contracted services: program service expenses 475,146. Management and general expenses 42,585. Fundraising expenses 36,039. Total expenses 553,770.”