(WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The Voyager probes began their journey to the edge of the solar system in 1977.
People were still poring over the pictures sent back from the Viking Lander on Mars and the space shuttle prototype was undergoing test flights above the southern California desert.
In Chicago, a group of space enthusiasts took a 10- week course at the Adler Planetarium about the future of space colonization and then decided to file for 501 (c)(3) status to create an organization to fit their interests.
Jim Plaxco is the president of the Chicago Society for Space Studies. It is a place where scientists and engineers to talk about the latest developments in space technology, but it also teaches students about our future in space.
He hopes to inspire students to imagine a world beyond our planet and to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math and "establish a foundation for them to look to the future."
Society speakers do more than just talk to students. Plaxco said they talk to politicians and civic groups about what's going on outside of earth's atmosphere.
Even though the scientific concepts may be difficult to grasp, Plaxco said interest in space is universal.
"We look to the future as a universe of possibilities."
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