News

The London Institute for Space Policy and Law (ISPL) is running a short course on Space Warfare at the end of this month.  This Course provides an overview and general understanding of conflict in and through space. The legal, policy and other political factors concerning military and security operations in outer space and the role of space assets in warfare will be considered. Placement of weapons in space and the deployment of space capabilities in Read more…

At the meeting of the IISL Board of Directors held at Brighton, United Kingdom, in October 1987, the Board decided to create a standing committee of the Institute to prepare and submit at each annual Colloquium a report on the status of agreements relating to activities in outer space.Institute members who can contribute substantively to the work of the committee are invited to serve on it. Membership is open to any interested IISL member. The Read more…

Each year since 2009, at the International Astronautical Congress, the Nandasiri Jasentuliyana Keynote Lecture on Space Law is presented by a leading expert on space law. The 2019 Nandasiri Jasentuliyana Keynote Lecture on Space Law was presented at the IISL colloquium during the IAC in Washington D.C., United States. It was given by Setsuko Aoki and entitled International Cooperation Mechanisms in Outer Space Activities for the Next Decade. The keynote lecture is published in the IISL Proceedings 2019. Read more…

Edward R. Finch, Jr., a longtime member of IISL, passed away on 4 September 2011 at the age of 92. Ambassador Finch was a member of the U.S. delegation to UNISPACE in 1982 and 1999 and a Permanent NGO Representative to COPUOS. He was on the Board of Directors of the National Space Society and he was a member of the Space Law Committee of the American Branch of ILA. One of his books was Read more…

Sadly, Dr Eduardo Gaggero is no longer with us. His friends and colleagues remember him as a figure of great renown in the field of air and space law, not only on the international scene but also as head of CIDA-E, the Uruguayan Centre for Air and Space Law, which he loved so much and conducted so well. Winning hearts and minds in the various institutions to which he belonged was no more than a Read more…

The IISL republished The Law of Outer Space, An Experience in Contemporary Law Making by Judge Manfred Lachs. The new edition was edited by Prof. Tanja Masson-Zwaan and Prof. Stephan Hobe and published by Nijhoff/Brill. Publisher: Brill | Nijhoff Brochure

Our member S. Neil Hosenball passed away on 23 December 2009. He was born in New York, and was a graduate of Harvard University law school. He was a lawyer in Cleveland before joining the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). After many years as Deputy General Counsel, Dr. Hosenball served as NASA’s General Counsel from 1975-1985. He participated in the drafting of the UN treaties on the peaceful uses of outer space, among other Read more…

Space Law: a Bibliography, a cumulative index of the Proceedings of IISL Colloquia, 1958-1994 (UN, 1996, V.96-81142-March 1996). This Bibliography contains a cumulative index of the Proceedings of IISL Colloquia, 1958-1994, searchable by author and by topic, available here.

It is with sadness that the International Institute of Space Law notes the passing of Eilene Marie Galloway on 2 May 2009. She had been recently diagnosed with inoperable cancer and lived her final days at home surrounded by family and friends. Monday 4 May would have been her 103rd birthday. In the 15 May 2006 U.S. Congressional Record, in honour of her 100th birthday, Rep. Bart Gordon, chairman of the House Science and Technology Read more…

In view of recent misleading views and discussions on this subject in the press, the IISL Board considers that it is appropriate to further clarify a number of salient points as follows: International Law establishes a number of unambiguous principles, according to which the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is permitted for the benefit of mankind, but any purported attempt to claim ownership of any part of Read more…