The Universities Space Research Association (USRA) was incorporated on March 12, 1969 in Washington, D.C. as a private, nonprofit corporation under the auspices of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). Institutional membership in the Association has grown from 49 colleges and universities when it was founded, to the current 105 institutions. All member institutions have graduate programs in space sciences or technology. Besides the 95 member institutions in the United States, there are two member institutions in Canada, four in Europe, two in Israel, one in Australia and one in Hong Kong.