About

Photo: NASA

The Columbia Space Initiative is a student space technology and outreach club founded on September 27, 2015. It serves as an umbrella organization for mission teams involved in everything from nanosatellite mechanical design to hosting space policy forums.

Our constitution is here.

Join Slack for more!


This past year, we sent a payload to the ISS, competed in the final rounds of NASA competitions, and performed a static fire of a rocket. In the past, we have tested devices in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Lab, presented mission proposals at Cape Canaveral, and launched high altitude balloons (with Roaree!).

We've hosted over twenty space-related public events, featuring astronauts and other members of the space industry, with a total of over 1,300 attending. In addition, we have held workshops for K-12 students around New York City, in places ranging from the Intrepid Sea, Air, and Space Museum to the NY Hall of Science.

Because Columbia does not offer an aerospace program, our club offers the only opportunity for students to pursue or discover their interests in space technology and outreach. As a collaborative endeavor, designing for space has taught us engineering skills for working under tight constraints and teamwork skills. These valuable skills have helped our members succeed during their internships at such places as Boeing, SpaceX, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Johnson Space Center, and Marshall Space Flight Center.

How to Join

Thanks for your interest in joining CSI!

We love having new members from all backgrounds, schools, and degrees. Please sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media ( Facebook, Instagram, Twitter) to stay in the loop.

At the beginning of the school year, keep an eye out for our liftoff (kickoff) mission workshop where you can learn more about CSI and meet new and returning members. Also, please sign up for our Slack workspace using your Columbia/Barnard email address and poke around in our channels. We have a dedicated channel for each mission, as well as some fun channels such as #memes 😂and #team_bonding 🍿. Once you're ready to join, take a look at our onboarding checklist 📝for new members.

Over the summer, several of our missions are active on campus, so feel free to join our Slack workspace and reach out to the mission lead(s) to get involved if you're interested!

If you have any questions about CSI, feel free to contact us at [email protected] or reach out to us individually. We can't wait to meet you!

- Columbia Space Initiative