Image: CSSS President Jim Plaxco (left) being presented with the NSS Chapter of the Year Award by David Stuart (right) at the Thursday banquet at the International Space Development Conference.
At the 2025 NSS International Space Development Conference, Chicago Society for Space Studies President Jim Plaxco was presented with the NSS 2024 Chapter of the Year Award. This award is the highest award that NSS presents to one of chapters. CSSS received the award primarily because of the numerous presentations members of our Speakers Bureau gave during 2024, of which there were almost 50 given to a combined audience of some 2,000 people.The keys to our organization’s educational activities were the presentations given by the following members of our Speakers Bureau:
- Larry Bartoszek
- Larry Boyle
- Dale Dellutri
- Dr. Gerald Jackson
- Jim Kovac
- Jim Plaxco
Local venues for the presentations given by our speakers included Bartlett Public Library District, Chicago Botanic Garden, Des Plaines Public Library, Elmhurst University, Harper College, Lake Villa District Library, Lincolnwood Public Library, Poplar Creek Public Library, Wauconda Area Public Library, Winnetka-Northfield Public Library, and Woodstock North High School. Local astronomy organizations to which presentations were given were the Lake County Astronomical Society, Naperville Astronomical Association, Northwest Suburban Astronomers, and the Skokie Valley Astronomers. Our speakers also delivered presentations at the International Space Elevator Consortium Annual Conference and the International Space Development Conference.
Following is a partial list of the presentations our Speakers Bureau members gave during 2024:
- 2024 Space Year in Review
- A History of Imaging the Crab Nebula
- Antimatter Versus Fusion Deceleration Concepts for Exoplanet Exploration
- Experiencing the Total Solar Eclipse
- Theories of Solar System Formation
- NSS spUN High School Debates Mentor Forum
- Optical Illusions and the Moon Illusion
- Settling the Solar System
- Spacecraft Propulsion: Past, Present, and Future
- Stargazing for All: Learn the Zodiac (Ecliptic Constellations)!
- The History of Solar Eclipses
- The Space Elevator—from Science Fiction to Engineering
- Why do we think there was a Big Bang?
- Wonders of Webb: Exploring the Universe with JWST
In addition to the 2024 activities of our Speakers Bureau, we also significantly expanded the space settlement aspect of our website by incorporating the Mike Combs Space Settlement website into our own, which required a complete reworking of the that website in order to seamlessly incorporate it into the CSSS site. Be sure to check out the Mike Combs Space Settlement Collection. This step was taken to enhance the space education and STEM value of our website.
CSSS also operates the Facebook Commercial Spaceflight Group and the CSSS Facebook page.