For more than 60 years, the IAA has championed the peaceful development and equitable exploration of space—promoting education, public outreach, and knowledge-sharing for the benefit of all humanity. Through global collaboration and innovation, the Academy fosters international cooperation and equitable access to space for every nation.

In 2010, the IAA made history by convening 35 heads of space agencies and world leaders, including NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and former Presidents A.P.J. Abdul Kalam of India and Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine. The resulting Summit Declaration pledged stronger global cooperation in human spaceflight, planetary exploration, climate action, and disaster management—exemplifying IAA’s role as a global convener advancing peace and benefit for all humanity.

Founded in 1960 by aerodynamics pioneer Dr. Theodore von Kármán, the Academy honors the pioneers who launched the space age. The inaugural 1955 issue of Acta Astronautica—our flagship space research journal— featured Academicians von Kármán, Qian Xuesen, Wernher von Braun and Hermann Oberth, whose breakthroughs laid the groundwork for international space cooperation and a new era of discovery.