National Space Institute

The National Space Institute was a space advocacy group established by the late Dr.Wernher von Braun (1912-1977) to help maintain the public's support for the United States space program.

From ?Growing to a Position of Strength?

by Hugh Downs

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In 1961 President John F. Kennedy launched the Moon race, which stunningly showed what American technology and determination could do. When, after eight years, we landed the first Apollo team on the lunar surface, the race was over. Just as serious scientific effort began, with immeasurable potential benefit to humanity, the funding closed down to a trickle. The last Apollo flights were cancelled and America?s space momentum was lost.

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Long before the launch of Apollo 17, the last Moon mission, Wernher von Braun recognized that something had to be done to keep the importance of ongoing space activity before the public mind. The sort of organization that could do such a job would need to be independent enough to view critically all aspects of NASA policy and implementation.

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