National Space Society Governor Kenneth Money Biography

kenneth money biography portrait

Kenneth Money

January 4, 1935 – March 6, 2023

Former President of the National Space Society

Ken Money worked as Senior Scientist at the Defense and Civil Institute of Environmental Medicine in Toronto. He has published over one hundred science articles and authored six different topics in the World Book Encyclopedia. Some of his contributions in the scientific field include knowledge of the inner ear, motion sickness, disorientation, and biological effects of space flight. Some of Money’s interests include badminton, skiing, acrobatic flying, skydiving, fishing, and reading. In 1956, Ken competed in the Olympic Games and placed fifth in the high jump. In 1989, he won the U.S. masters badminton championship in Miami.

Ken was selected as one of Canada’s astronauts in December 1983, and he left the Canadian Astronaut Program in 1992. He acted as Spacelab Payload Operations Controller for the Spacelab International Microgravity Laboratory mission in 1992. During the same mission, Money served as the alternate astronaut, having the capability to fly if needed. Ken Money is credited with the invention of an experimental surgical operation called semicircular canal plugging, which is now being used in North America and Europe to treat particular types of dizzy spells. Ken teaches part time as a professor of physiology for the University of Toronto, where he received his doctorate. He has experience as a nanny, a fighter pilot, and a helicopter pilot.

In 1994, he was awarded the Meritorious Service Cross by the Governor General of Canada for his many contributions to science and technology.

Ken has served on the NSS Board of Governors since 1986 and on the Board of Directors from 2004-2016, and has done liaison work between the two Boards.