MILESTONES
2020
PSF meets its educational goals thanks to a generous grant from the William and Valerie Anders Foundation.
2019
PSF closes its Earth & Space Science Museum to put more emphasis on meteorite research and creates a virtual museum experience.
PSF receives the donation of the enormous Christina Hollis Meteorite Collection, originally amassed by Conrad Wragg.
2018
PSF honors its members Bill Anders and Jim Lovell on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 8 mission that took them (along with Mission Commander Frank Borman) to the moon on December 21, 1968.
2017
PSF donates the James M. DuPont Meteorite Collection to the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven, Connecticut.
PSF Members from all over the country view the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse from many different locations across the United States.
2015
PSF receives a $200,000 grant from the Willow Springs Charitable Trust in support of our "Science in a Changing World" project.
2014
PSF opens the Earth & Space Science Museum on Main Street in Elizabeth, IL, to showcase its extensive collection of space memorabilia, meteorites, and geological specimens.
2013
The combined PSF and James M. DuPont meteorite collections reach a new milestone with 2,000 distinct, individual specimens, making it one of the top 10 largest collections in the world.
2012
PSF completes their "Stairway to the Heavens" project, offering visitors a more convenient way to access the 1876 Banwarth House & Museum.
2011
PSF receives a $10,000.00 donation from The Willow Springs Foundation toward the construction of our future observatory.
1876 Banwarth House & Museum begins weekly scheduled programs.
PSF begins partnerships with the JETS Observatory in Freeport, IL.
2010
PSF involvement with the April 14th fall of the Mifflin, Wisconsin meteorite.
PSF begins partnership with the Apple River Fort State Historic Site Astronomy programs.
2009
Grand opening of 1876 Banwarth House & Museum.
2008
Purchase of the 1876 Banwarth House in Elizabeth, IL (new PSF Headquarters).
PSF participation in the Tawani International Antarctic Expedition.
PSF pledges its meteorite collections to the Field Museum of Natural History in order to establish the Robert A. Pritzker Center for Meteoritics and Polar Studies.
2005
PSF enters into partnership with the Challenger Learning Center of Woodstock, IL.
2004
PSF enters into a research partnership for Polar Studies with the University of Innsbruck, Austria.
2003
PSF moves into a new central office in Crystal Lake, IL.
2002
PSF undertakes a third Antarctic scientific expedition to the Pecora Escarpment and to the South Pole in a continued effort to collect meteorites and ice samples for the study of microorganisms.
2000
A second Antarctic expedition to the Thiel Mountains and to the South Pole takes PSF in search for meteorites and microorganisms.
1999
PSF conducts a geological and solar eclipse expedition to Turkey with 32 participants.
1998
PSF enters into a a meteorite research partnership with NASA's George C. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.
PSF conducts a Solar Eclipse expedition to the Caribbean (Aruba) with 42 participants to view a total solar eclipse.
PSF conducts its first Antarctic scientific expedition to Patriot Hills and to the South Pole, in search of meteorites.
1995
Mrs. Violetta DuPont donates the entire James M. DuPont Meteorite Collection, which today is the 10th largest meteorite collection in the world.
1994
PSF conducts its first Antarctic educational expedition.
1991
PSF is the principal force behind construction of the Karl G. Henize Observatory in Palatine, IL.
1989
PSF is chartered as a not-for-profit organization.
ANNUAL BENEFIT DINNER SPEAKERS
2009
Charles Duke
Apollo 16 Astronaut
Jerry Mathers and Tony Dow
Leave it to Beaver Actors
2007
Jack Lousma
Skylab III Astronaut
2006
Al Worden
Apollo 15 Astronaut
2005
Scott Carpenter
Mercury 7 Astronaut
2004
Dr. Edgar Mitchell
Apollo 14 Astronaut
2003
Walter Cunningham
Apollo 7 Astronaut
2002
Alan Bean
Apollo 12 Astronaut
2001
Harrison A. Schmitt
Apollo 17 Astronaut
2000
James L. Lovell
Apollo 8 and 13 Astronaut
1999
Charles Duke
Apollo 16 Astronaut
1998
Owen Garriott
Skylab Astronaut
1997
Samuel T. Durrance
Shuttle Astronaut
1996
Andre Bormanis
Star Trek Script Writer
1994
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry
Star Trek Actress
1993
Byron Lichtenberg
Shuttle Astronauts
1992
Alan Bean
Apollo 12 Astronaut