International Space University - History

History

In 1985, three young space enthusiasts created the Space Generation Foundation, dedicated to fostering a sense of identity for those people born since the beginning of the space era. The ISU founders are Peter Diamandis, a medical doctor with a Master's in aerospace engineering from MIT; Todd Hawley, a graduate from Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, and Robert D. Richards, an engineer and physicist, and former assistant of the well-known astrophysicist Carl Sagan. They generated a series of novel ideas from which a ‘Space University’ was exceptionally well received. The idea garnered the support of a number of important personalities in the space field, including Prof. U.R. Rao, president of the Indian Space Research Organization; Dr. Harrison Schmitt, an Apollo 17 astronaut and former senator; Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill from the Space Studies Institute; space pioneer Prof. Hermann Oberth; and Arthur C. Clarke, the visionary writer along with many others.

This initiative was further developed and presented to the Advances in the Astronautical Sciences (AAS) Meeting dedicated to Aerospace Century XXI in Boulder, Colorado in 1986. The following year, a three-day Founding Conference convened at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) from 10-12 April 1987. These dates were chosen to commemorate the flight of Yuri Gagarin (12 April 1961), the first human in space. The Founding Conference culminated in the formal creation of the International Space University, established as a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization in the state of Massachusetts, USA. The first ISU Summer Session Program (SSP) took place at MIT from 20 June to 20 August 1988 with the support of the major space agencies. The artwork for the first brochure was made by the well-known artist Pat Rawlings.

Following an international competition for a host city for the Central Campus, the ISU home base moved from Massachusetts to Illkirch-Graffenstaden in the Urban Community of Strasbourg, France in 1994. ISU is now a non-profit association registered in Alsace (France), and is still registered in the USA as a 501(c)3 non-profit educational organization. The Governing Members of ISU are international organizations, industries, space agencies, academic institutions, and individual members.

The French Ministry of Education formally recognized ISU as an institute of higher education in 2004 (decree MENS0400386A of 27 February 2004). The International Space University has had permanent observer status with the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs since 1998. ISU was also granted full membership of the Space Agency Forum (SAF) in 1995. ISU is a member of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and has been invited to contribute to a number of international activities including the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF), the IAF Symposium on “Bringing Space into Education”, the World Space Workshop on Education, and the National Science Week Steering Committee.

To ensure that the programs offered meet the demands of a rapidly changing space sector, ISU regularly conducts surveys to ascertain the latest educational needs of the global space enterprises and updates its programs accordingly. The milestones of the history of ISU are noted in the Table below.