The British Interplanetary Society (BIS), founded in Liverpool in 1933 by Philip E. Cleator,[1] is the oldest existing space advocacy organisation in the world.

[2] When originally formed in October 1933, the BIS aimed not only to promote and raise the public profile of astronautics, but also to undertake practical experimentation into rocketry along similar lines to the organisations above.

However, early in 1936 the society discovered that this ambition was thwarted by the Explosives Act of 1875, which prevented any private testing of liquid-fuel rockets in the United Kingdom.

Smith also authored and illustrated the 1947 book 'The Exploration of the Moon' showing the first ever conceptual 'orbital satellite' (text by Arthur C. Clarke), which is said to have inspired both John F. Kennedy and Stanley Kubrick.

In the paper, Ross had examined the problem of a 68 kg lunar space suit which could be worn for up to 12 hours, within the temperature range of +120 °C to -150 °C.

The purpose of the programme was to develop a Sub-orbital spaceflight that could provide crewed ascents to a maximum of 1 million feet (304 km).

The latest in this series of far-reaching studies produced the Project Boreas report, which designed a crewed station for the Martian North Pole.

In 2020, the British Interplanetary Society website was redesigned and updated with a new-look logo, with a streamlined sans-serif version of the original 'Stag' font and both the banner and medallion designs incorporating the BIS motto 'From Imagination To Reality'.