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Professor Elisabeth Back Impallomeni passed away on 28 June 2018 at home in her home town Padua, where she spent the most important part of her family and professional life. The funeral took place on 2 July at the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, the Dome of Padua, followed by an academic ceremony at the Palazzo Bo, the historical seat of the University. At these her relatives,friends and colleagues paid her their last respects. I am surely interpreting the sentiments of all members of our scientific community in saying that she was a sincere friend and an esteemed colleague, whom we will miss profoundly. For her interests in outer space, scientific curiosity and longstanding engagement in current working activities, she was a woman of our days, but, at the same time, she had something in her personality coming from the past, embedded with the cultural background of this particular region which formed part of the lost Austrian-Venetian world. Born in Vienna, where she studied and became Doctor Iuris, she married an Italian Roman lawyer, Titta Impallomeni, and moved to Padua where she took a second degree in law. Thus, she acquired the real background of an international lawyer in the full meaning of the word, conserving strong linkages with the Viennese School of International law and its eminent personalities, such as Alfred Verdross, but fully incorporating herself into the Italian school, represented at that time in Padua by distinguished lawyers like Rolando Quadri, a pioneer of space law, and Benedetto Conforti. These are the three names she often mentioned when speaking of her academic affiliations. Then, she completed her polyglot education in several other countries, from the University of Manchester to the Sorbonne in Paris and Harvard Law School. Thereafter,Elisabeth started her academic career in Padua, cultivating several scientific interests, but moving quickly to this specialised field of international law that we call space law. It became her preferred discipline, to which she made relevant contributions in academic teaching and scientific research.

As a professor of international law, Elisabeth Back Impallomeni was a committed teacher, loved by her many students and pupils, always ready, as she was, to give sound recommendations to the young scholars who followed her courses on international law or wanted to pursue their careers in the space law field. She acted not only as a teacher, but also as a mentor. At the same time, Elisabeth was one of the most active members of the space law researchers community. Particular mention must be made of her 1983 monograph on the international legal regime of outer space and celestial bodies (Spazio cosmico e corpi celesti nell’ordinamento internazionale), which was reviewed in 1987 by her long-time friend Prof. Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor, in vol. 34 of the Netherlands International Law Review. In this book, she gave her opinions on several topics of space law, from the distinction between the concepts of res communis omnium and common heritage of humankind, to the issue of the delimitation of outer space and, finally, to the responsibility for outer space activities. Apart from this contribution, she wrote several articles in scientific periodicals and encyclopaedias, and gave presentations at international congresses and conferences, published in the proceedings of such events. Among them I recall her contributions on the sources of space law, the remote sensing legal regime, the geostationary orbit and many others.

But, it is needless to say that one of the most relevant qualities of Elisabeth Back was her uninterrupted participation, as a very active member, in the work of the main associations dealing with outer space law, such as the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA). Elisabeth was a long-time member of the IISL Board of Directors and to IISL Elisabeth dedicated her best energies to promote the further development of space law and the expansion of the rule of law in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. To this end, she joined meetings, colloquia and competitions on juridical aspects of space activities all over the world, prepared reports and cooperated in the drafting of IISL position papers on open issues of space law. Long after her “retirement”, la professoressa continued to work tirelessly on space law. Her participation was not diminished by the need of assistance she faced in the last years as a consequence of her reduced mobility. In this context, she was particularly attached to two activities: serving as judge in the Manfred Lachs Moot Court Competition and chairing the IISL Committee for the I.H.Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor Award for best Paper by a Young Scholar. In 2015, at the 66th International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem, the Board of Directors nominated her as Honorary Director of the IISL, recognizing her long-standing contributions to the development of space law and the role of the IISL in this context.

She was also a prominent Member of the ECSL Board, where she seated uninterruptedly since 2006, never missing to comply with her commitments, from the European Rounds of the Manfred Lachs Moot Competition to the Practitioner’s Forum and the Summer Course on Space Law and Policy, where she lectured until the 2016 edition in Rome. Finally, she was generously involved in many charitable causes and organisations.

We realise now that our beloved friend and colleague Elisabeth Back Impallomeni is no more with us, but we trust in her scientific and human legacy as a continued source of inspiration for all those who knew and loved her.

Sergio Marchisio
IISL Board of Directors

In September 2012, when I was a law student at the University of Padua, I met professor Back Impallomeni for the first time. It was an encounter destined to have a profound impact on my life. Her firm but gentle resolve helped me overcome my fears and start my adventure in space law, during which she guided me with tireless enthusiasm. It is difficult to recall here all of her many qualities, but one in particular always touched me: the deep sense of duty and dedication that her example inspired in others, both students and colleagues. For this, and several other reasons, professor Back Impallomeni was a unique mentor. I will remember her with sincere and endless gratitude.

Federico Bergamasco
MA in Law, University of Padua (2007-2013)
LLM in Air and Space Law, Leiden University (2013-2014)
PhD candidate in satellite communications law, University of Luxembourg (since 2017)

Continue reading »]]> It is with great sadness that IISL announces the passing of Walter Thiebaut, on 19 April 2018 at the age of 72. He spent more than 30 years as a civil servant with the European Space Agency and its predecessor organisations, firstly at ELDO, then at ESRO.

After his Doctorate in Law, obtained from KU Leuven, Walter Thiebaut joined the European space organisations on 1 January 1972.

His pioneering work and numerous publications in law of space cooperation, contracts and insurance will remain as unique and valuable insights of the legal events of his time. Many space legal practitioners have enjoyed working alongside of this exceptional colleague.

Since 1989, he had frequently participated in events organised in the framework of the European Centre for Space Law, such as the Practitioners’ Forum or the Summer Course on Space Law and Policy, thus encouraging interdisciplinary and intergenerational approaches and exchanges, beyond the usual space research community. He served as visiting Professor at the Catholic University of Leuven since 2009, also acting as a judge of the European Round of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition on several occasions.

At ISU, a Member of the Board of Trustees and of the Space Policy, Economics and Law Department, Walter Thiebaut strongly supported the development of the International Space University, which has graduated more than 5000 students from over 100 countries.

As ESA’s liaison officer in Washington in the late 70s, he facilitated the building of a robust partnership with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, when he was addressed the modalities of ESA-NASA long standing and successful history of cooperation, then mainly in the area of space science and later for the International Space Station, laid down in legal instruments which, in the majority of cases, take the form of a MOU. Regarding the order of precedence under national law between international agreements and US domestic legislation, he suggested ways of alleviating related inconveniences. The validity of such instruments came to the fore particularly when ESA was confronted with difficulties in the execution of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Spacelab, signed on 14 August 1973, and of the Memorandum of Understanding on the International Solar Polar Mission (ISPM), signed on 29 March 1979. He concluded that the success of a cooperative project depends largely on the good-faith understanding of both parties to the MOU, as the history of cooperation between NASA and ESA had proved, such as the amazing Cassini-Huygens planetary mission, allowing the ESA atmospheric entry probe to land successfully on Saturn’s moon Titan in 2005.

Walter participated in numerous international negotiations, working alongside with European and non-European space actors. He acted as observer at sessions of the UNCOPUOS Legal Sub-committee and attended several international conferences which presided over the destiny of space cooperation.

In learning his unexpected passing away, Marco Ferrazzani, present ESA Legal Counsel said: “We all felt great sorrow and surprise at the loss of Walter, as if he could never leave us. His enjoyable and realistic attitude will remain with our spirit.”

Our thoughts are with all those who were fortunate to share pioneering times and precious moments with him.

Continue reading »]]> Patricia M. Sterns was a longtime member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), and served two full terms on the Institute Board of Directors (1999-2007). She was an Honorary Director from 2008 until the time of her death. She served as a member and chair of the IISL’s Membership Committee for several years. She was a panel organiser, coordinator and/or presenter at IISL and other international conferences in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Past IISL President N. Jasentuliyana noted her many outstanding contributions at international conferences, which stand as testimony to her scholarship and commitment to the development of space law. Nandi also noted that “she was a pillar of strength to me and the Board of the IISL.” The law firm Sterns and Tennen was the first institutional member of the IISL. That Firm received a 1998 IISL Distinguished Service Award.

Ms Sterns was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1952. She earned an undergraduate degree at Arizona State University in 1974 and a Juris Doctorate at the University of Arizona’s School of Law in Tucson in 1977, where she was a member of the Arizona Law Review. She was admitted to practice by the Arizona Supreme Court, the U. S. District Court of Arizona, and the Supreme Court of the United States. Patricia was a Partner in the law firm of Sterns and Tennen from 1978 until she retired in 2016. Her legal practice focused on assisting clients in civil and criminal proceedings. Patricia married her partner, Leslie I. Tennen, in a lovely and memorable Phoenix garden wedding in 2005.

From 1983 to 1999 and again from 2003 to 2007 Ms Sterns served as a judge pro tempore for the Superior Court of Arizona, County of Maricopa. She also served on the Arizona Judicial Branch Domestic Relations Committee until 2014. She served as a guest lecturer at the American Graduate School of International Management in Phoenix, Arizona, and was a guest lecturer at the Princeton University Space Manufacturing Facilities Conference. During her career she authored and co-authored numerous articles, papers, chapters of anthologies on space law, and books. She contributed a chapter to Ram Jaku’s National Regulation of Space Activities in 2010, and co-authored and co-edited with her husband Private Law, Public Law, Metalaw and Public Policy in Space, A Liber Amicorum in Honor of Ernst Fasan in 2016.

Ms Sterns participated in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition; and she made substantial and continuing contributions to the Manfred Lachs International Space Law Moot Court Competition. She served as a judge at national and regional levels, and the Sterns and Tennen law firm established an annual award which has been given since 1997 to the Best Oralist at the World Finals competition. Patricia was always available to assist in the planning and organisation of the many competitions. She co-authored the 2012 Lach’s Moot Court case, Zuris vs. Freedonia, concerning environmental contamination and harmful interference in space activities. She is fondly remembered by many for regularly hosting informal evening dinners for the young lawyers and students during the annual IISL Colloquia.

Former IISL President Tanja Masson remembers “I met Patty at my first IISL Colloquium, 1986 in Innsbruck and was immediately stuck by her personality, intelligence, eloquence and elegance. She was fun-loving and full of life. In more than 30 years we have built a wonderful friendship and worked together in close collaboration marked by mutual respect, genuine interest and sincere appreciation of efforts. During my time as Secretary, then President of the IISL (1991-2016), she was always supportive and cooperative. I remember her as a beautiful person in every aspect and cherish warm memories of our friendship and her unfaltering dedication to the IISL she loved so much.”

Ms Sterns was a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, a longtime member of the American Society of International Law and the Maricopa Bar Association. She was a full Member of the International Academy of Astronautics and served on the Academy’s Committee on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). She received the Academy’s Social Science Book Award in 2011. She was heavily involved with the American Bar Association’s International Law Section and Aerospace Law Committee.

Patricia and her husband, Les, owned and lived together on a ranch near Phoenix, Arizona and Ms Sterns was a past member of the Professional Cowboys Association and the American Quarter Horse Association. She was generous, caring, and always sensitive to the needs of those around her.

Distinguished Austrian attorney and co member of the IISL Board of Directors, a close family friend, Ernst Fasan remembered . . . “she – with her beloved husband Leslie – had her roots in the beautiful ranch in Phoenix. She loved her horses, and other animals on the ranch and was very happy there. For many years her outstanding papers on space law were published. And her passing away is a great loss not only for her family but also for us, her friends and colleagues. The International Institute of Space Law, the IAF and the IAA have suffered a great loss, and we all will keep her memory in highest esteem.”

In March 2018 Patricia Margaret Sterns, JD was presented the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award by Marquis Who’ Who, recognizing her noteworthy accomplishments, leadership qualities, public service, and the many credentials and successes she had achieved in the legal field. Ms Sterns was listed in Who’s Who in America, Who’s Who in American Law, Who’s Who in the West, and Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America.

Continue reading »]]> George Robinson graduated from Bowdoin College, Maine in 1960 with a BS in biology and chemistry. He earned an LLB at the University of Virginia, School of Law (1963), an LLM from McGill University Graduate Faculty’s Institute of Air and Space Law (1966), and the first Doctor of Civil Laws (DCL) degree awarded by the Institute (1971).

Dr George Robinson entered federal civil service in 1964 as an attorney advisor at the Federal Aviation Agency (1964-65), later the Federal Aviation Administration of the Department of Transportation, then attended the McGill Institute (1965-66) and returned to the Department of Transportation (1966-68). In 68-69 he again attended McGill as a candidate for a doctorate. He then served as an International Relations Specialist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1969-1970). He was the NASA desk officer for developing cooperative programs between NASA and organisations in Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, Spain and Pakistan.

In 1970 George joined the Congressional Affairs staff of the Smithsonian Institution, and then was appointed Associate General Counsel, later serving as Acting General Counsel of the Smithsonian Institution. George was at the Smithsonian for 25 years.

In 1995 he left federal service and established with his two sons and a daughter-in-law the firm of Robinson Associates Law Offices, P. C., now Robinson and Robinson, LLC, a domestic and international law practice with offices in Virginia and Maryland. Among other subjects the firm addressed corporate law, matters related to corporations and non-profit organisations, education, employment, intellectual properties, collaborative research and related agreements, mergers and acquisitions, health care and space commerce.

While at the Smithsonian, George was well known for the avant-garde international conferences he organized dealing with legal issues and practical problems of doing business in space, and also for symposia he initiated dealing with legal, biological and medical aspects involved in establishment of a self-sustaining extraterrestrial settlement and its interdependence with nations and business entities underwriting and facilitating such a society.

Dr. Robinson taught and lectured in law and business of space commerce at numerous universities in the United States and abroad, including George Mason University, Oxford University, McGill University, George Washington University, and Georgetown University. He served on the Boards of Directors of various science research facilities, foundations, and hospitals. He also has consulted for the National Research Council, the Smithsonian Institution, the Department of the Interior’s Remote Sensing Data
Archives, the Maritime-Aerospace Liaison Project of the Maine Maritime Academy, the Advanced Aerospace Technology Working Group, the Space Propulsion Synergy Team, and NASA, where he served for twenty years on the Planetary Protection Subcommittee of the NASA Advisory Council.

A member of the Cosmos Club, Washington, D. C. Dr. Robinson served for five years as the Editor-in-Chief of the club’s COSMOS Journal, containing original writings by a variety of Nobel Prize Winners and Pulitzer Prize Winners who are members of the Club. He also served on the Editorial Boards of Advisors for the Journal of Space Philosophy and the Journal of Space and Evolution. Dr. Robinson hosted the Annual Eilene Galloway International Space Law Symposium at the Cosmos Club, co-sponsored by the International Institute of Space Law.

In recognition of Dr. Robinson’s unique contributions to the innovative development of domestic and international space law, McGill University has established in its Institute of Air and Space Law, the George S. and Ann K. Robinson Space Law Prize in 2014. Supported by friends and family of Dr. George S. Robinson, III, the prize is awarded to a graduating student at the Institute of Air and Space Law on the basis of a successful doctoral thesis exhibiting advanced and innovative research capabilities and constituting an original contribution to space jurisprudence.

Dr. Robinson was also a major supporter of the Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition. He served on the Committee in 1992 that organized the first Space Law Moot Court. Thereafter, as the competition grew and spread around the world, he continued to support the competition by judging the North American Regional Round nearly every year. In earlier years, Dr. Robinson was a regular attendee at the IISL annual meetings and routinely wrote articles for the Proceedings.

Dr. Robinson considered himself a secular humanist. He viewed Natural Law theory, Jurisprudence, and implementing positive laws from the empirical perspective of evolutionary biology. In addition to the courses and lectures he conducted about various aspects of space law, he authored more than 100 well researched and learned articles and more than half a dozen books, some co-authored, in various topics of space law, settlements in space, a space law case-book, and migration of humanity into space. He also authored works on aviation law, science/technology law, maritime law and policies related to oceanographic and limnological research, land conservation, critical habitats, protected animal and plant species, terrestrial and oceanographic environmental law, and business law.
Among the most seminal books he wrote were Living in Outer Space (1976); Space Trek: the Endless Migration (with J. C. Glenn in 1978); Envoys of Mankind: A Declaration of First Principles for the Governance of Space Societies (with Harold M. White, Jr. and an Introduction by Gene Roddenberry in 1986); and Space Law: a Case Study for the Practitioner (with Pamela Meredith, in 1992).

Personal

George S. Robinson was born October 19, 1937 in Washington, D. C. He spent his youth in Northern Virginia, adjacent to Washington, DC. He married Ann Kellogg at the Bolling AFB Chapel, in Washington, D. C. on October 10, 1964. They had two sons, George S., IV, born July 26, 1967 in Washington, and Whitson (Whit) born May 10, 1971, also in Washington. Dr. Robinson died in Warrenton, VA on February 4, 2018.

Continue reading »]]> Professor Dr Isabella H. Ph. Diederiks-Verschoor
President Emerita, IISL

1915 – 2017

Prof. Dr Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor passed away on 17 October 2017 at the age of 102. She was born in Amersfoort, the Netherlands on 29 July 1915. She studied law at Leiden University and practised law in Amsterdam for six years. In 1943 she defended her PhD thesis on the 1938 Brussels Convention for the Unification of Certain Rules Relating to Assistance and Salvage of Aircraft at Sea at the University of Utrecht. She was appointed as a lecturer there in 1953, and was professor of air and space law from 1979 until her retirement in 1984. One year later, she joined the initiative of her colleague at Leiden University, Professor Henri (Or) Wassenbergh, and became Vice-Chair of the newly established International Institute of Air and Space Law at Leiden University. She served in that capacity until the early 1990s, after which she became honorary board member.

She was one of the founders of the field of space law, and of the International Institute of Space Law. She presented at the first Colloquium in 1958 in The Hague, was IISL’s President from 1973-1990, and thereafter became its first President Emerita. She managed the Institute with a human touch and was always able to unite and to achieve consensus, which was not always an easy task during the early days of the Space Age. She received the IISL’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999, during the International Astronauticial Congress held in Amsterdam.

Professor Diederiks-Verschoor presented numerous papers during the IISL Colloquia, which are published in the IISL Proceedings. Her book “An Introduction to Air Law” was published by Kluwer in 1982 and is currently in its 10th edition. Her other seminal book, “An Introduction to Space Law” was published in 1993 and its third edition came out in 2008. Both books have been translated into many languages and still serve as a reference for students all over the world.

In 1981 she presented a Course at The Hague Academy of International Law on “Similarities with and differences between air and space law, primarily in the field of private international law”, which was published in the Collected Courses of the Academy. She was instrumental in the establishment of Kluwer’s journal “Air Law” in 1975. The scope of the journal was later extended to cover also space law and was renamed “Air and Space Law”. Prof. Diederiks-Verschoor served many years on its editorial board, and was thereafter appointed as honorary member.

Prof. Diederiks-Verschoor loved teaching and was loved by her many students. She lectured abroad extensively, traveling for many weeks on end in for example Africa, Australia, China, Indonesia, and Malaysia. She welcomed students to her home in Baarn to consult her collection of books and articles on air and space law and invited them for dinner. She was always willing to advise students on their LLM and PhD theses and encouraged them to accompany her to conferences, thus facilitating their entry into the world of space law. She will be remembered as such by numerous students from all over the world.

Since 2001, she is also remembered each year through the IISL “Diederiks-Verschoor Award”, presented by the Board of Directors for the best IISL Colloquium paper by an author not older than 30 years and who has not published more than five papers in the IISL Proceedings.

Prof. Diederiks-Verschoor was an icon of space law, a dedicated teacher, an academic role model for women and above all, a faithful friend to countless space law academics, practitioners and students from all over the world. Her warm personality will be missed by us all.

Tanja Masson-Zwaan, President Emerita
Kai-Uwe Schrogl, President

A condolence book is open: http://avanpijpen.nl/condoleanceregister?register=isabella-henrietta-philepina-verschoor

The very first IISL Colloquium in 1958 in The Hague – with Dr Smirnoff, Eugene Pepin, Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor, Andrew Haley and Dr Gerlach.

On this photo taken in 1988 in Mexico, you can see two former IISL Presidents: Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor (President from 1973-1990) and Judge Manfred Lachs of the ICJ (President from 1990-1993). 

The IISL at the IAC in Malaga, 1989

IAC Malaga — featuring in the photo: Michael Potter, Isabella Diederiks-Verschoor, Nandasiri Jasentuliyana, Tanja Masson-Zwaan, Frans Von Der Dunk and JoAnn Clayton Townsend, Eilene Galloway, Gyula Gal, Andrei Terekhov, Peter Haanappel, Hanneke van Traa, Bill Wirin, Harry Tuinder, David Reibel.

Continue reading »]]> John Basil Gantt, Sr. passed away peacefully on August 14, 2017 after battling dementia.

Many IISL Members may remember John Gantt.  John was very active in the Space Law Moot Court and judged the North American Regional Competition numerous times.

John also enjoyed writing the Moot Court Problems, authored the 1994 Problem and co-authored the Problem in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2008.  John was always willing to help out and will be missed by all of us who knew him.

John was born on 12 March 1939 to Floyd Muse and Edith Leslie Mack Gantt in Washington, DC and raised on the family farm, Rokeby, in McLean, Virginia.

Mr Gantt graduated from Fairfax High School in Fairfax, Virginia in 1956 and attended Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh receiving a Bachelor Degree in Applied Physics and a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Signal Corp in 1960.

He served six months active duty and remained in the reserves for thirty years rising to the rank of Colonel in the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.  After his six months of active duty, he returned to the Washington, DC area and studied law at George Washington University and later finished his law studies at the University of Virginia Law School.

He then went to work as an attorney for the Communication Satellite Corporation in Washington, DC and was later the vice president and general counsel for Comsat General Corporation. He continued in private practice after retiring from Comsat.

Mr Gantt was a member of the Metropolitan Club of Washington, DC, The Friends Creek Anglers Association and Farmington Country Club.  Mr Gantt is survived by his wife, Isabel; two children, Catherine Waring Ryan and John Basil Gantt, Jr.; his eight grandchildren and by his brother, Edward Muse Gantt.

Continue reading »]]> Gabriel Lafferranderie (born October 10, 1941) passed away 8 December 2016 at the age of 75 years. He graduated from the Toulouse Institute of Political Studies and received the title of Doctor of Law from the Faculty of Law in Toulouse in 1966 for a thesis on the legal regime of satellites. This thesis, and the numerous publications that followed, have been authoritative in space law and paved the way for several generations of researchers in various related disciplines.

He joined Centre national d’études spatiales (CNES) in July 1969 as Head of Legal Affairs and then joined the European Space Research Organization (ESRO) in 1972 as Head of the Legal Affairs Division. From 1983 until November 2002, Gabriel Lafferranderie was the legal adviser of the European Space Agency (ESA). In 1989, he founded the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL), of which he was the President until 2007. He was a former treasurer of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) and named an honorary director in recognition of his many achievements for IISL. Gabriel Lafferranderie combined his experience as legal counsel of the mentioned space agencies with a profound interest for the scientific and academic aspects of the law of outer space activities. The close linkage between the IISL and the ECSL is based upon Dr. Lafferanderie’s work and can best be seen in the Manfred Lachs Moot Court and the IISL/ECSL Symposium at the sessions of the UNCOPUOS Legal Subcommittee.

An icon of space law, he received many awards in recognition of his contributions to the academic community of space lawyers. He was the first holder of the Hubert Curien Prize, awarded by Eurisy in 2004. He was awarded the insignia of Chevalier of the National Order of Merit, and the ECSL’s 2014 Award for Outstanding Contribution in Space Law.

Marco Ferrazzani, currently ESA Legal Counsel and Head of the Legal Services Department, has said remembering his work:

“Gabriel Lafferranderie has been my boss and predecessor as ESA Legal Counsel and mentor in space law. He played a substantial part in the drafting, implementation and interpretation of the Convention for the Establishment of a European Space Agency, thus ensuring ESA’s institutional stability and the coherence of the legal instruments adopted and contributing to the success of the major European space programmes. Gabriel Lafferranderie played an active role in the setting up of space sector operators, such as Arianespace, Eutelsat and Eumetsat, an innovation that owes much to his capacity to adapt and give legal sense to institutional changes, required by geopolitical, economic or societal evolutions.

He was the leader in setting up of the European Centre for Space Law (ECSL) in 1989. We witness his personal dedication to the cause of developing and promoting the achievements of international cooperation and space law, with upcoming generations in mind”.

Gabriel Lafferranderie will be missed by many but remembered through the legacy of his work.

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The International Institute of Space Law is sad to announce the death of Nicolas Mateesco Matte, OC, QC, FRSC on 13 April at the age of 102 years. Throughout his distinguished academic career, Nicolas Mateesco Matte continually helped to advance the cause of international air and space law.

Prof. Matte was deeply involved with IISL for many decades, as a board member since the 80s and as Vice President from 1994 until 2003, when he became Honorary Director. He contributed numerous papers to the annual Colloquia, published in the IISL Proceedings.

An obituary has been posted upon the website of McGill University in Montréal, Canada.

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Continue reading »]]> The IISL notes with sadness the death of esteemed and colleague Yuri Kolosov, who made a particularly significant contribution to the development of the principles of International Space Law.

He lectured on diverse issues of International Law at many universities all over the world and authored over 250 publications, including 5 monographs. He was widely known as a prolific writer in the field of space law, and his text-book co-authored with Professor Gennady Zhukov stands in testimony to his contribution to the subject.

Read the full obituary here

Continue reading »]]> Pioneer of Air and Space Law Education in Indonesia, Prof.Dr. Priyatna Abdurrasyid passed away in Jakarta-Indonesia on Friday, May 22nd of 2015 at the age of 85 years old. It is a big loss for Indonesia as he passed away when the Asia Pacific Manfred Lachs Space Law Moot Court Competition organized by the International Institute of Space Law (IISL) was still underway in Bandung in cooperation with the Faculty of Law of Padjadjaran University where Prof Priyatna introduced Air and Space Law in 1963.

Read the full obituary here