Space, Policy and Society Research Group

The MIT Space, Policy, and Society research group, founded by Professor David Mindell, studies the social and policy issues related to human spaceflight. The multidisciplinary group brings together engineers, historians, astronauts and policy analysts from MIT and beyond, and includes faculty from STS, Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Engineering Systems Division and the Technology and Policy Program. The current focus is on the future direction of human spaceflight in a global context. The group holds a regular seminar series with guest speakers ranging from NASA administrators to space journalists. In a graduate-level class students research policy issues in human spaceflight. Given the critical policy questions that must be addressed in the next few years, including the decision to retire the space shuttle and return humans to the moon by 2020, the group published a white paper addressing the key issues and options for human spaceflight in the second decade of the 21st century.