Which organization did Carl Sagan co-found in 1980?

Which organization did Carl Sagan co-found in 1980? The answer is The Planetary Society.

Sagan founded the organization with Bruce C. Murray, a former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Louis Friedman, an aerospace engineer. Their goal was to build public support for planetary exploration, astronomy, and the search for extraterrestrial life.

The Planetary Society is an independent nonprofit advocacy group, not a NASA department or government agency. It has supported missions, public education, planetary science, and the search for life beyond Earth. Sagan's fame helped the society attract attention to space exploration during a period when science budgets and ambitious missions faced political pressure.

A common mix-up is the SETI Institute, which is a separate research organization focused on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Sagan was associated with SETI and served on its board, but he co-founded The Planetary Society.