Karman Project

The Karman Project is designed to foster trust, independent dialogue, cooperation, and diplomacy among their fellows. Fifteen leaders in the space industry aged 15 to 45, who have achieved outstanding professional accomplishments in space, are selected each year from some of the most impactful space organizations and companies in the world.^[1]

The organization itself is a nonprofit, independent, with global headquarters in Berlin, Germany.^[2] The Karman Project has partnered with the Oxford Space Initiative at Saïd Business School to strengthen the relationships between committed individuals coming from the research, business, venture, government, and industry sectors.^[3]

As of 2025^[update], Jean-Jacques Dordain, former director-general of the European Space Agency, heads the board of the Karman Project.^[4]

The Karman Project was founded in 2020 by Ke Wang, Hannah Ashford, and Artur Koop.^[4]

The annual fellowship was hosted in Dubai, UAE in 2021, and in Normandy, France, in 2022.^{[citation needed]}

The Maldives Space Research Organization hosted Karman in Malé, with the Hithadhoo School and Six Senses Laamu in 2023.^[5][6] In 2024 it was hosted in Bulgaria by EnduroSat.^{[citation needed]}

In June 2025, Karman announced the world's first cultural payload to the International Space Station, sending seeds to space of culturally important crops. These included:^[7]

• Egyptian cotton
• Armenian pomegranate
• Nigerian egusi melon
• Pakistani wheat

In October 2025, Karman launched the Space Peace Prize, to champion critical peace efforts in the space domain.^[8] In the same year, the annual fellowship week was hosted in Bangalore, India.^[9]

Every year up to 15 fellows are selected to participate in the program, with an additional runner-up class denoted as Karman Pioneers. Many of the fellows have notable histories, which lends to their selection and leadership development within the industry.^{[citation needed]} The following table lists the Karman Fellows by year.^[4]