Marcia Smith

Marcia S. Smith is President of Space and Technology Policy Group, LLC and founder and editor of the space policy news and information website SpacePolicyOnline.com.

From 2006-2009, she was Director of the Space Studies Board (SSB) at the National Research Council (NRC) and from 2007-2009 also was Director of the NRC's Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (ASEB). The NRC is the operating arm of The National Academies, which is comprised of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The National Academies serve as advisors to the nation on science, engineering and medicine.

From 1975-2006, Ms. Smith was a specialist in aerospace and telecommunications policy at the Congressional Research Service (CRS), Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. CRS provides objective, non-partisan research and analysis exclusively for the Members and committees of the U.S. Congress. She specialized in issues concerning U.S. and foreign military and civilian space activities, as well as on telecommunications issues (including the Internet).

From 1985-1986, Ms. Smith took a leave of absence from CRS to serve as Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on Space. The Commission, created by Congress and its members appointed by the President, developed long term (50 year) goals for the civilian space program under the chairmanship of (the late) former NASA Administrator Thomas Paine. The Commission published its results in the report Pioneering the Space Frontier.

Ms. Smith is the North American Editor for the quarterly journal Space Policy. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), of the American Astronautical Society (AAS), and of the British Interplanetary Society (BIS). She is the recipient of the 2006 John F. Kennedy Astronautics Award from the American Astronautical Society and the 2003 Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace (WIA). She was a founder of WIA and is an Emeritus Member. She is a member of the International Institute of Space Law, the International Academy of Astronautics, the New York Academy of Sciences, the Washington Academy of Sciences, and Sigma Xi (the honorary scientific research society) and has served in elected or appointed capacities in several of those organizations.