Founding Member
Dr. Edgar Dean Mitchell
Posthumous
Travelling back to Earth, having just walked on the moon, Apollo 14 astronaut Edgar Mitchell had an experience for which nothing in his life had prepared him. As he approached the planet we know as home, he was filled with an inner conviction as certain as any mathematical equation he’d ever solved. He knew that the beautiful blue world to which he was returning is part of a living system, harmonious and whole—and that we all participate, as he expressed it later, “in a universe of consciousness.”
Trained as an engineer and scientist, Captain Mitchell was most comfortable in the world of rationality and physical precision. Yet the understanding that came to him as he journeyed back from space felt just as trustworthy—it represented another way of knowing.
This experience radically altered his worldview: Despite science’s superb technological achievements, he realized that we had barely begun to probe the deepest mystery of the universe—the fact of consciousness itself. He became convinced that the uncharted territory of the human mind was the next frontier to explore, and that it contained possibilities we had hardly begun to imagine. Within two years of his expedition, Edgar Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1973.
Since it’s founding, Dr. Mitchell actively served on the board of directors of the Institute. He authored The Way of the Explorer: An Apollo Astronaut’s Journey Through the Material and Mystical Worlds and Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science, Understanding the Nature and Power of Consciousness, as well as other publications.
In the later years of his life Dr. Mitchell helped to create the Interstellar Community Foundation (ICF) and also the Foundation for Research into Extraterrestrial Experience (FREE), both in keeping with his effort to help raise the level of awareness within humanity, moving toward a more mature and awakened state of consciousness.
NASA Backgrounder (2007-2016) / (Captain, USN, Ret.) / NASA Astronaut (former)
PERSONAL DATA
Born September 17, 1930, in Hereford, Texas, but considers Artesia, New Mexico, his hometown. Has resided in Palm Beach County, Florida since 1975. Divorced. Four daughters: Karlyn Mitchell, Ph.D Elizabeth Kendall, Kimberly Mitchell, Mary Beth Johnson. Two sons: Paul Mitchell, Adam Mitchell. Nine grandchildren.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University (1952); Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (1961); Doctorate of Science degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1964; Honorary Doctorates from New Mexico State University (1971), Carnegie-Mellon University (1971), University of Akron (1979) and Embry-Riddle University (1996).
ORGANIZATIONS:
Member, Society of Experimental Test Pilots (1966–), American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (1963-1983), International Platform Association (1975-1983), Explorers Club (1972) World Futures Society (1975)
New York Academy of Sciences (1975-1983). Honorary member, Radio and Television Correspondents Association (1972–).
HONORS AND AWARDS:
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
USN Distinguished Service Medal.
NASA Distinguished Service Medal.
NASA Distinguished Service Award.
Three NASA Group Achievement Awards.
USAF Aerospace Research Pilot School, First in Class Award.
Medal of the City of New York.
American Astronautical Society, Flight Achievement Award.
Arnold Air Society, John F. Kennedy Award for Space Exploration.
Carnegie Mellon University Alumni, Outstanding Man of the Year (1972).
Kappa Sigma, Man of the Year Award (1972).
Adventurers Club, Gold Medal Award for Exploration.
Explorers Club, Lowell Thomas Award for Explorations in Human Consciousness (1980).
Drexel University, Engineering and Science Award for Explorations in Consciousness (1974).
Space Hall of Fame (inducted 1979).
Astronaut Hall of Fame (inducted 1995).
Nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize (2005).
EXPERIENCE
Mitchell’s experience includes Navy operational flight, test flight, engineering, engineering management, and experience as a college instructor. Mitchell came to the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston after graduating first in his class from the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School where he was both student and instructor.
He entered the Navy in 1952 and completed his basic training at the San Diego Recruit Depot. In May 1953, after completing instruction at the Officers Candidate School at Newport, Rhode Island, he was commissioned as an Ensign. He completed flight training in July 1954 at Hutchinson, Kansas, and subsequently was assigned to Patrol Squadron 29 deployed to Okinawa.
From 1957 to 1958, he flew A3 aircraft while assigned to Heavy Attack Squadron Two deployed aboard the USS BON HOMME RICHARD and USS TICONGEROGA; and he was a research project pilot with Air Development Squadron Five until 1959. From 1964 to 1965 he served as Chief, Project Management Division of the Navy Field Office for Manned Orbiting Laboratory.
1965-1966 was spent at the U.S. Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School in preparation for astronaut duties, and certification as test pilot. Mitchell served as an instructor in advanced mathematics and navigation theory for astronaut candidates.
NASA EXPERIENCE
Mitchell was a member of Group 5, selected for astronaut training in April 1966. He served as a member of the astronaut support crew for Apollo 9 and as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 10.
On January 31, 1971, serving as lunar module pilot, Dr. Edgar Mitchell, then a U.S. Navy Captain, embarked on a journey through outer space of some 500,000 miles that resulted in becoming the sixth man to walk on the moon. That historic journey terminated safely nine days later on February 9, 1971 and was made in the company of two other men of valor Admiral Alan Shepard and Colonel Stuart Roosa.
Maneuvering their lunar module, Antares, to a landing in the hilly upland Fra Mauro region of the moon, Shepard and Mitchell subsequently deployed and activated various scientific equipment and experiments and collected almost 100 pounds of lunar samples for return to Earth. Other Apollo 14 achievements included: first use of Mobile Equipment Transporter (MET); largest payload placed in lunar orbit; longest distance traversed on the lunar surface; largest payload returned from the lunar surface; longest lunar surface stay time (33 hours); longest lunar surface EVA (9 hours and 17 minutes); first use of shortened lunar orbit rendezvous techniques; first use of color TV with new vidicon tube on lunar surface; and first extensive orbital science period conducted during CSM solo operations.
In completing his first space flight, Mitchell logged a total of 216 hours and 42 minutes in space.
He was subsequently designated to serve as backup lunar module pilot for Apollo 16.
In 1972, Mitchell retired from NASA and the U.S. Navy.
BUSINESS EXPERIENCE
Dr. Mitchell founded the Institute of Noetic Sciences in 1973, one year after retiring from government service. It is a foundation organized to sponsor research in the nature of consciousness. He also is co founder of the Association of Space Explorers, an international organization founded in 1984 for all who share the experience of space travel. Both are educational organizations developed to provide new understanding of the human condition resulting from the epoch of space exploration.
Dr. Mitchell is author of Psychic Exploration: A Challenge for Science, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1974, a major reference book; and The Way of the Explorer Putnam 1996. He is also author and/or interviewee in dozens of articles in both professional and popular periodicals.
As a lecturer, Dr. Mitchell delivers 25 to 50 addresses annually on cosmology, human potential and topics relating to the evolving future of the species on planet Earth. His most current lecture series discusses the implications of recent discoveries in science as they affect our individual lives in the home, the workplace and society at-large. He is a frequent guest on radio and television talk shows and has been featured in several documentary films relative to his interests.
FREE – FOUNDATION for RESEARCH into EXTRATERRESTRIAL & EXTRAORDINARY ENCOUNTERS
IONS – INSTITUTE OF NOETIC SCIENCES
ICF – Interstellar Community Foundation
F.R.E.E. YOUTUBE CHANNEL
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBhuz2MX3DmBrRY2hKaLecQ
https://youtu.be/F2dSrISjXLU
MP3 AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
In the mid-1990s, Apollo 14 astronaut and Institute of Noetic Sciences founder Dr. Edgar Mitchell gave three inspired presentations in New York City. For the first time these titles are now available to the public. They are:
- “Science and the Inner Experience”
- “Your Universe and You”
- “Global Mind Change”
These phenomenal recordings, no less relevant now than they were then, emphasize the fact that humankind is facing the same issues today as it did at the end of the last millennium. Putting modern times in the broad context of science, history, and the precarious state of our environment, Dr. Mitchell echoes the sentiment that “God did not play dice” when he/she created the universe. He then stitches these concepts together into an easy-to-grasp and accessible series of presentations that can help listeners to better understand the nature of existence and start taking the steps needed to ensuring a globally sustainable future
DR. Edgar Mitchell
Founding Member
Jeanne White Eagle
Founding Member & Visionary
John B. Pehrson
Founding Member
Lawrence Bloom
Board Member
Barbara Marx Hubbard
Board Member (Posthumous)
Michael Tribe
Board Member
Juan Carlos Kaiten
Board Member
Susan Manewich
Board Member