The BIS was only preceded in astronautics by the American Interplanetary Society (founded 1930), the German VfR, and Soviet rocket research groups, but unlike those it never became absorbed into a national industry.
BIS kom efter American Interplanetary Society (grundlagt 1930), det tyske VfR og Sovjetiske raket forskningsgrupper, men til forskel fra dem, blev BIS aldrig absorberet ind i en national industri.