Author Topic: Is the end near for the British Interplanetary Society? (Read 21311 times)

Blackstar · « **on:** 03/12/2011 07:55 pm »

From “Odyssey, the Newsletter of the British Interplanetary Society” the March 2011 issue:

AN OPEN LETTER FROM THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY OF THE BIS TO THE MEMBERSHIP

You will have read in the March 2011 edition of Spaceflight that the Society has reached a turning point in its history. The direction we take at this crossroads will decide the Society’s future, or perhaps more aptly whether the Society has a future at all. One direction leads to the continuation of the BIS as a guiding force in the world of astronautics; the other leads to the winding-up of the BIS, or at best to a scaled down and much less influential version of the Society to which you belong.

Which direction we take very much now depends on you. It is no longer enough just to be a member of the British Interplanetary Society. What we need now is your active participation and support. Without this the Society will close within 12 months.

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #1 on:** 03/12/2011 07:58 pm »

Can't they - or will they - just become a part of the UKSA. Room for the both of them, or am I not understanding the structure/direction?

Blackstar · « **Reply #2 on:** 03/12/2011 08:00 pm »

I think that if the BIS folds it will be a bad thing. BIS was formed in 1933 and is the oldest of the space societies that still exists in some form. I have written dozens of articles for Spaceflight, and edited several issues of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society or their publication Space Chronicle.

That said, I'm not surprised by this. For starters, fewer people are interested in space and spaceflight today than before. In addition, the BIS has also made a number of missteps over the years (for instance, about a year ago they discovered that it was cheaper to buy Spaceflight on the newsstand than it was to subscribe--therefore giving people in the UK no reason to become a member). I've also noted with a certain dismay that their web presence has remained pretty skimpy for a very long time.

Space101 · « **Reply #3 on:** 03/12/2011 08:07 pm »

Publicity could be a problem. I've never heard of the BIS. I have the UKSA. ESA was known once you got into the subject and NASA is known by everyone.

I'd guess most UK people are more interested in NASA than anything British or European.

npuentes · « **Reply #4 on:** 03/12/2011 08:12 pm »

Quote from: Blackstar on 03/12/2011 08:00 pm

I think that if the BIS folds it will be a bad thing. BIS was formed in 1933 and is the oldest of the space societies that still exists in some form. I have written dozens of articles for Spaceflight, and edited several issues of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society or their publication Space Chronicle.

That said, I'm not surprised by this. For starters, fewer people are interested in space and spaceflight today than before. In addition, the BIS has also made a number of missteps over the years (for instance, about a year ago they discovered that it was cheaper to buy Spaceflight on the newsstand than it was to subscribe--therefore giving people in the UK no reason to become a member). I've also noted with a certain dismay that their web presence has remained pretty skimpy for a very long time.

I'm not a BIS member but remember really liking Spaceflight many years ago. The coming of the internet has changed a lot of things and one is the utility of news/analysis sources that rely on subscription and heavily on the printed page. For example, I plan to let my 30 year long subscription to Aviation Week lapse, as I find there is little in the magazine that I cannot get for free, at a faster pace, and often of higher quality, on the internet.

Terry Rocket · « **Reply #5 on:** 03/12/2011 08:22 pm »

Never heard of BIS either, and have never see Spaceflight magazine on the stands.

Chris Bergin · « **Reply #6 on:** 03/12/2011 08:25 pm »

Quote from: Terry Rocket on 03/12/2011 08:22 pm

Never heard of BIS either, and have never see Spaceflight magazine on the stands.

WHSmith still sell it. The big supermarkets (at least Tesco and ASDA) don't anymore for some reason.

Nittany Lion · « **Reply #7 on:** 03/12/2011 09:00 pm »

Location: Leeds, England – “I've never heard of the BIS.”

Location: Birmingham, England – “Never heard of BIS either . . . ”

Yikes! Two people purportedly living in England, reading NASAspaceflight.com, and have never heard of the BIS. Speaks volumes about the quality of the BIS’s promotion.

I was a member of the BIS for 41 years and a subscriber to Aviation Week for the same length of time but I let both subscriptions lapse at the end of last year. There just wasn’t enough unique content to make the time and expense worthwhile.

Sad to say for people who grew up loving books and magazines, but print is dead.

saturnapollo · « **Reply #8 on:** 03/12/2011 09:14 pm »

I must admit to being surprised that people interested in spaceflight have never heard of the BIS. Arthur C. Clark was one of the founding members (see Tales from the White Hart).

I joined as soon as I could in 1971. At the time they had a membership age limit of 17. Was a Fellow for many years, but ceased membership some time ago as the articles in Spaceflight just stopped being interesting and I had about 2 years backlog I had never read. It wasn't a cheap membership either and then Spaceflight was made available on newstands. So didn't seem worth it to continue.

I still have over 30 years of Spaceflight I tried to sell on Ebay but no-one was interested. Couldn't even give them away in fact.

Would be sad to see it disappear, but I don't think they've kept up with the times.

Keith

Blackstar · « **Reply #9 on:** 03/12/2011 09:15 pm »

Quote from: saturnapollo on 03/12/2011 09:14 pm

I still have over 30 years of Spaceflight I tried to sell on Ebay but no-one was interested. Couldn't even give them away in fact.

Er... I'm interested.

saturnapollo · « **Reply #10 on:** 03/12/2011 09:22 pm »

Well, they are still in 4 photocopier boxes in the garden shed as far as I know. Not checked their condition for a while.

Keith

robertross · « **Reply #11 on:** 03/12/2011 09:24 pm »

Quote from: Terry Rocket on 03/12/2011 08:22 pm

Never heard of BIS either, and have never see Spaceflight magazine on the stands.

Huh. They sell them (Spaceflight) here in Canada at Chapters (for one).
Have bought several issues over the years. Always thought they had great content, especially historical spaceflight and ISS-related. And they did a good job of covering shuttle launches. Of course an $11.50 price tag per issue was a bit steep, so I switch to L2

I think it would be a shame to lose the British Interplanetary Society. I hope they can at least continue on, even if that requires joining with UKSA.

Blackstar · « **Reply #12 on:** 03/12/2011 09:25 pm »

Quote from: Nittany Lion on 03/12/2011 09:00 pm

Location: Leeds, England – “I've never heard of the BIS.”

Location: Birmingham, England – “Never heard of BIS either . . . ”

Yikes! Two people purportedly living in England, reading NASAspaceflight.com, and have never heard of the BIS. Speaks volumes about the quality of the BIS’s promotion.

Yeah, I totally agree. But I don't know if their problems are recent, or long-standing and the environment has simply changed--in other words, space has less of a following--and so they are getting bit.

Way back around 1989 I was in London on an internship and I decided that I wanted to visit the BIS offices, particularly their extensive library. That's when I learned that their library was open to the public once a month, in the evening, for a total of two hours. It was really ridiculous, as if they were totally opposed to the idea of attracting visitors and new people. (I also determined that this was a somewhat British trait--Americans tend to be more open in general, and this is reflected in their institutions--in general--whereas the British are not.)

So that was over two decades ago. But in the years since, I haven't seen much of a change. I don't know why they still kept an expensive London address when they really could have decamped to rented space in a cheaper location. And I saw very little effort on their part to engage in outreach. There are some things that they could have done to expand to a broader audience outside of London, such as host web-chats with prominent space experts.

And to personalize it a bit, I've never felt particularly well-treated by the organization. I was only a member for a short period of time, but I've written dozens of articles for their magazine over fifteen years and never received any acknowledgment (i.e. thanks) from the BIS secretary, nor even a free subscription to the magazine. I've written for them because I enjoy writing, but they haven't shown much sign of being grateful.

Blackstar · « **Reply #13 on:** 03/12/2011 09:32 pm »

By the way, you can see the latest issue here:

http://www.spaceflightmagazine.com/pages/latest-issue.html

I've got two articles in that issue, one on robotic asteroid missions and another on the Dragon capsule. The cover is pretty snazzy. And this website also looks rather snazzy too. They've only had this site up and running for about six months now. Before this, they only had the relatively stale main BIS webpage.

saturnapollo · « **Reply #14 on:** 03/12/2011 09:33 pm »

Even as a Fellow of the Society I never got paid in any way for anything I wrote for them.

The only thing you got a for a very hefty sub, was either a copy of Spaceflight or a copy of the Journal - but not both!! And access to their library in London. Not much use if you are in Edinburgh! Even special events held in their premises required entrance fees by the membership, so not a lot even for members.

The only reason I stayed was, quoting Fellowship of the BIS to NASA when asking for photos seemed to help.

Keith

racshot65 · « **Reply #15 on:** 03/12/2011 09:35 pm »

I live in England and had never heard of them either

Taking a look at there website they have a student membership for £18 which is tempting ...

They should probably just buy advertising space on this site, were certainly there target audience

Nathan · « **Reply #16 on:** 03/12/2011 10:10 pm »

I never understood why they didn't have a membership option that included subscription to both Spaceflight and JBIS

JJ.. · « **Reply #17 on:** 03/12/2011 10:24 pm »

It was a sad day when I had to give up my subscription to SpaceFlight (I got it via the B.I.S membership)
But it got to over £3 per mag which I always said I would never pay,

But I hope the B.I.S manages to stick around,

JJ..

Nathan · « **Reply #18 on:** 03/12/2011 10:28 pm »

Quote from: Nathan on 03/12/2011 10:10 pm

I never understood why they didn't have a membership option that included subscription to both Spaceflight and JBIS

Oh. You can. They just don't mention it until you get to the payments pages.
They need an active forum that non-members can view.
i might join. Though now they have said they are in trouble one wonders whether the full subscription will be honoured.

Stardust9906 · « **Reply #19 on:** 03/12/2011 10:31 pm »

Speaking as a current member I hope this mess is sorted out as it would be a real shame to loose the Society which has been around since 1933. The more bodies we have promoting Spaceflight the better.

Judging by the number of people on this thread who haven't heard of them they clearly have a communication problem and advertising on a site like this wouldn't be a bad idea.