The BIS was only preceded in astronautics by the American Interplanetary Society (founded 1930), the German VfR (founded 1927), and the Soviet Society for Studies of Interplanetary Travel (founded 1924), but unlike those it never became absorbed into a national industry. Thus it is now the world’s oldest existing space advocacy body.
When originally formed in October 1933, the BIS aimed not only to promote and raise the public profile of astronautics but also to undertake practical experimentation into rocketry along similar lines to the organizations above. However, early in 1936, the Society discovered that this ambition was thwarted by the Explosives Act of 1875, which prevented any private testing of liquid-fuel rockets in the United Kingdom.
The BIS publishes the academic journal Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and the monthly magazine Spaceflight. In 2008, the BIS published Interplanetary, a history of the society to date.
The science and science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke was a well-known former Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society. The society was presented with the first Special Award, from the 2005 Sir Arthur Clarke Awards. This was a gift of Clarke’s choice, independent of the judging panel. In 2008 the Society’s magazine, Spaceflight, edited by Clive Simpson, was the winner of the award for Best Space Reporting.
According to the Internet
