"All systems either of preference or of restraint, therefore, being thus completely taken away, the obvious and simple system of natural liberty establishes itself of its own accord. Every man, as long as he does not violate the laws of justice, is left perfectly free to pursue his own interest his own way, and to bring both his industry and capital into competition with those of any other man or order of men. The sovereign is completely discharged from a duty, in the attempting to perform which he must always be exposed to innumerable delusions, and for the proper performance of which no human wisdom or knowledge could ever be sufficient: the duty of superintending the industry of private people."
- Adam Smith, Wealth of NationsII, bk IV, ch. 9, 1776.

"Fundamentally, there are only two ways of coordinating the economic activities of millions. One is central direction involving the use of coercion -- the technique of the army and of the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary cooperation of individuals -- the technique of the marketplace."
- Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, 1962.

If space achievement is to be accomplished by free enterprise, what role is there for an organization such as the Houston Space Society? We believe there are many valuable roles for our group:

• Bringing together interested individuals in social settings, leading to the establishment of new business activities.
  
  This particular purpose has already been achieved on several occasions. The list of companies formed by Houston Space Society members and principals is extensive. Among these, Space Travel Services, and General Space Corporation have been prominent.
• Establishing institutions for the long term study of space settlement.
  
  The Houston Space Society has established the Houston Space Institute, the Lunar Prospector Team, and other groups for the advancement of space achievement. Although we are largely disappointed with their current status, the principals of the Houston Space Society were instrumental in the founding and establishment of the National Space Society (c. 1987) and the Space Frontier Foundation (c. 1988). We take great pride in having worked to create new organizations even though some must be viewed as failures. The establishment of a free civilization on the space frontier is a journey into undiscovered country; we hope to learn from our failures as well as our successes.
• Providing facilities for research and communication.
  
  We publish the Journal for Space Development, this web site, and occasional books. The Proceedings of the Lunar Polar Probe Conference is one of our first major publications. We've established the Alvin O. Carley Memorial Library with tens of thousands of volumes of books, magazines, and original papers for the advancement of the understanding of space development. We're also working on the development of research facilities.
• Identifying and supporting space groups and space companies of exceptional merit.
  
  Among the groups we've identified and whose efforts we've supported in the past are the Space Studies Institute and Texas Spacelines, Inc. There are others, though some have been disappointing, notably the Space Frontier Foundation.
• Collecting and organizing information on policy, philosophy, and political views which support the settlement of space
  
  This web site is dedicated to fostering sensible space policy, which often involves eliminating government activities, removing laws from the books, and reducing wasteful government spending.
• Taking a long term perspective
  
  Companies do not always (or even often) have the liberty to take a long-term perspective. Both the need to spend money carefully and the ever-present requirement of making a profit often mitigate against a long-term view. The principals of many commercial space businesses are involved precisely because they take a long-term perspective, but their jobs do not always support the implementation of their ideas and ideals. Thus, the Houston Space Society is a place where long-term thinking and unproven ideas are welcome, where it is possible to discuss and promote such ideas without fear of being castigated for being too "far out," "weird," or "geeky."
• Education
  
  Education is one of the primary purposes of the Houston Space Society, always has been, and always will be. Although our efforts at educating the general public, through symposia, fora, conferences, shopping mall presence, booths at events, and sundry other activities has not always been successful, we are quite proud of our efforts in this area. Of considerably greater importance, we have worked to educate the space activist community and ourselves, with much greater success.
• Maintaining Focus
  
  It is easy to be sucked into the pro-NASA, pro-government, big spending on space achievement, put off your dreams of personal opportunity and be altruistic mode of thinking. We've seen countless individuals and space groups founded for good and noble purposes get turned into NASA cheerleaders. Perhaps the best example is the Space Frontier Foundation, a group whose leadership seems to have sold out entirely to the monied interests of aerospace and defense contractors. They seem to be following in the footsteps of those unfortunate folks in the National Space Society, down a path that leads nowhere.

  On the other hand, it isn't easy to remain focused on the future of a free society in space. That vision doesn't live in the real world, and most of the institutions of the real world seem dedicated to its undoing. We work hard to maintain that focus precisely because it is so difficult, as well as because of the merits of the vision. As a result, we've come in for some heavy criticism, some intense vituperation, and endless ad hominem commentary. While these benefits are often a source for great amusement, they conspire to distract as much as to entertain.

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