The SEDS History Project is an effort to create online, living documentation of the history of Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. The goal of the project is to provide information -- documents, chapter histories, interviews with SEDS alumni -- that will guide the organization into the future.

Documentation about the Project

Rationale and Overview

Some background into the reasons why SEDS is undertaking this project and some of the work the organization plans to do to look at its past.

SEDS Historical Documents

SEDS Inaugural Meeting Notes

SEDS was founded at MIT in the fall of 1980. The officers kept the minutes of the meetings in a logbook, starting with the very first meeting on Thursday, October 30, 1980.

• Logbook Cover [GIF 35K]
• Meeting Minutes [GIF 57K]

Letter to the Editor in Omni

Shortly after SEDS was founded at MIT, its president, Peter Diamandis, wrote a letter to the editor in Omni magazine deploring the status of the space program and asking students to help make a difference. The letter, published in Omni in early 1981, attracted students from around the nation to SEDS.

• Page one of letter [GIF 97K]
• Page two of letter [GIF 180K]

1982 SEDS International Conference

The first SEDS conference was held in July 1982 on the campus of George Washington University in Washington, DC. The meeting attracted students from around the country. A number of top-flight speakers gave presentations at the conference, including Dr. Mark Chartrand, then director of the National Space Institute (now NSS); Dr. David Webb, aerospace pioneer and now the head of the SEDS-USA Board of Advisors; and the young Republican co-chairman of the Congressional Space Caucus, a Georgia representative by the name of Newt Gingrich.

• SEDS82 program cover [JPEG 23K]
• SEDS82 registration form:œ
  • [GIF 23K] (low-resolution version)
  • [TIFF 205K] (high-resolution version)
• SEDS82 program page 1 [GIF 15K]
• SEDS82 program page 2 [GIF 13K]

1983 SEDS International Conference

Students returned to Washington in July of 1983 for the second SEDS conference. The conference was longer than in 1982 and included more presentations by speakers dealing with many aspects of space exploration and development.

• SEDS83 program cover [JPEG 22K]
• Executive board meeting agenda for SEDS83 [GIF 5K]

More to Come!!!