Mat Kaplan

In 1980, Carl Sagan, Louis Friedman, and Bruce Murray founded The Planetary Society. They saw that there was enormous public interest in space, but that this was not reflected in government, as NASA’s budget was cut again and again.

Today, The Planetary Society continues this work, under the leadership of CEO Bill Nye, as the world’s largest and most influential non-profit space organization. The organization is supported by over 50,000 members in over 100 countries, and by hundreds of volunteers around the world.

Their mission is to empower the world’s citizens to advance space science and exploration. They advocate for space and planetary science funding in government, inspire and educate people around the world, and develop and fund groundbreaking space science and technology.

They introduce people to the wonders of the cosmos, bridging the gap between the scientific community and the general public to inspire and educate people from all walks of life. They give every citizen of the planet the opportunity to make their voices heard in government and effect real change in support of space exploration. And they bring ordinary people directly to the frontier of exploration as we crowdfund innovative and exciting space technologies.