NASA initiated the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Project, also known as Space Grant, in 1989. Space Grant is a national network of colleges and universities. These institutions are working to expand opportunities for Americans to understand and participate in NASA’s aeronautics and space projects by supporting and enhancing science and engineering education and research.

The Space Grant national network includes over 850 affiliates from universities, colleges, industry, museums, science centers, and state and local agencies. These affiliates belong to one of 52 consortia in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

View Space Grant Consortium Directors and Websites

The purposes of Space Grant are to:

• Increase the understanding, assessment, development, and utilization of space resources by promoting a strong educational base, responsive research and training activities, and broad and prompt dissemination of knowledge and techniques;
• Utilize the abilities and talents of the universities of the Nation to support and contribute to the exploration and development of the resources and opportunities afforded by the space environment;
• Encourage and support, within the university community of the Nation, the existence of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary programs of space research that—
  • engage in integrated activities of training, research, and public service;
  • have cooperative programs with industry; and
  • are coordinated with the overall program of the Administration;
• Encourage and support the existence of consortia, made up of university and industry members, in order to advance the exploration and development of space resources in cases in which national objectives can be better fulfilled through such consortia than through the programs of single universities;
• Encourage and support Federal funding for graduate fellowships in fields related to space; and
• Support activities in colleges and universities generally for the purpose of creating and operating a network of institutional programs that will enhance achievements resulting from efforts, as authorized by Congress.