At Harvard, there seems to be a club for every hobby--from kendo to funk. The Society for the Exploration and Development of Space, at first glance, would seem to be on the fringes, in the same league, as, say, Mr. Jay's Midnight Croquet.

"We started the space table, a weekly dinner table where we could sit and talk about space," says Founder Adam M. Ross '00.

But Ross and his fellow club "activists" are not content with sitting idly in the dining hall. Their mission is to explore the final frontier--to make it accessible--now.

"The purpose stemmed from my belief that space is something we should be going into," Ross says. "I've always felt that space is not just a technical challenge, but also a political challenge, a philosophical challenge, and an economic challenge."

Ross started the club to promote discussion of space between Harvard students and faculty members. And as the club has grown, astronauts, space lobbyists and NASA employees have joined in the weekly discussions.

The space club is growing--last year reached beyond Harvard with a lobbying trip to Washington, D.C., according to club vice president Joseph A. Robbins '01.

"As Harvard students, people listen to us," Robbins said, adding that their rhetoric made quite an impact. When he later heard speeches by NASA administrators and other pro-space lobbyists, Robbins heard their own rhetoric.

"One thing we did learn last year is how much of a difference [we made] in American policy toward space development," he said.