Lack of Diversity Among National Space Society Award Nominees

1. “The Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award honors those individuals who have made significant, lifetime contributions to the creation of a free, spacefaring civilization.”

   I dont think diversity is the biggest problem with the nominees. Lack of specific individuals who have actually made specific significant contributions for creating free, spacefaring civilization. I mean, George Lucas and Kim Stanley Robinson ? Or pretty much anyone else in that list

   1. They also gave Dan Goldin a PhD and got Pete Worden’s name wrong – its S. Pete Worden not Peter Worden.

      1. Worden is at least a worthy candidate, as are a few others such as Peter Glaser and Freeman Dyson. Not everyone who contributes to aerospace engineering also contributes to creating a free, spacefaring civilization.

2. All previous winners are male.

   When I see someone like Tom Hanks listed and Nichelle Nichols, Eileen Collins, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, Mae Jemison, etc. not listed, I have to wonder.

   1. Donna Shirley, Jessica Collisson, Michelle Thaller, Carolyn Porco, Ayanna Howard. Many more

      1. Thanks for that list. I was compiling one myself but you did a better job. And Porco! What a career she has had.

         1. The key here is that these people have actually moved the needle in some meaningful way. Thanks to the work of these ( mostly ) scientists and engineers, we know much more about the key places in near space that we ought to move out to with our civilization sometime. Without that knowledge, we wont be going anywhere.

            What exactly has George Lucas done, in that regard ?

            1. That’s a great point. I suppose one would say that he helped to raise public consciousness, if that’s a real “thing”, and if it matters.

               But people like Dr. Porco have worked tirelessly since Voyager to understand the solar system. They are the real stars in the American scientific pantheon.

               Mr. Lucas belongs on a different list, as I think is your point.

            2. But this is not a science award… From the NSS web site.

               “The Robert A. Heinlein Memorial Award honors those individuals who have made significant, lifetime contributions to the creation of a free spacefaring civilization.”

               So even a government scientist discovering life on Mars after searching their whole life wouldn’t really be in the spirit of the award. The award is about space as a place to live, not space as science. Saying that the research of these scientists is advancing settlement is like saying the pioneers were inspired to go West because some scientists found dinosaur fossils there…

               By contrast George Lucas, as many other film makers. has kept public interest in space alive and kept folks, especially kids, dreaming.

               FYI

               http://www.howstarwarsconqu…

               But perhaps NSS should create some type of space science award to reward scientists for their work.

3. Supposedly if you add a write-in candidate, it will increase their chance of that person being on the 2017 ballot. Alas, I am not an NSS member, but those who are may want to consider doing so.

4. Mark Watney?

5. Those criticizing the NSS Awards program’s gender balance should seriously take a look at our awards web site and actually read about the awards, how they are awarded and who gets them. The Heinlein award (started in 1989) is the only NSS award that is NOT selected by the Awards committee. It is selected by a vote of the entire NSS membership and we get hundreds of ballots. New names are added to the list on the ballots from write-in votes in previous years. That is the only way names appear on the list.
   On the other hand, those awards that are selected by the Awards committee (composed of 5 men and 5 women), are much more gender neutral. We give awards to individuals, teams and companies. For the last 3 years, of the 8 Space Pioneer awards given to individuals, we gave 4 to men and 4 to women. We are not specifically trying to be gender neutral, the committee votes for those who we think most deserve awards related to space on a global basis. We have had a specific women of space program to recognize women’s accomplishments for several years at our ISDC conference.
   In 2013 Dr. Mae Jemison was a Space Pioneer winner. In 2001, the NSS gave Donna Shirley our very first cast metal von Braun Award, for her magnificent but futile attempt to save the 1998 Mars missions by resigning her position. Our awards web site is at http://www.nss.org/awards/
   John K Strickland
   NSS Awards Committee Chair

   1. Only 2 out of the 28 nominees NSS has posted are women. If you say this is what the NSS membership wants then the entire organization has a diversity issue. Like most space advocacy organizations you only look within your small universe of fellow advocates and not to the world beyond.

      1. The NSS membership deciding on these 28 particular nominees is not the same as the the NSS membership wanting only 2 of 28 nominees to be women. But you can still call it a diversity issue.

      2. Actually that seems to be an issue with most space advocate groups. You do see more women and minorities at conferences than in the past, but it still is a sea of mostly white males you are looking at when you make a presentation.

         I wonder if any of the organizations bother to gather any demographic statistics on their membership. It would seem to be fundamental to any marketing strategies to expand membership.

6. Actually two names the NSS should consider as future candidates should be Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL) and Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-WA) for introducing the ASTEROID Act into Congress that resulted in clearing up the legal issue of American firms having the same rights as the Federal government to recover and own space resources. It is hard to see any single act over the last few years that was as important to opening space up to economic development, or more in the spirit of Robert Heinlein’s view of the human future in space.

   Space advocates, especially New Space Advocates, spend a lot of time bashing folks in Congress, perhaps they should spend time honoring folks like these that are supporters.

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