Eilene Galloway, "Grand Matriarch of Space Law," passes away at 103

Eilene Galloway, a key contributor to the birth of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and leading figure in the development of space policy and law, passed away on May 2, 2009 just shy of her 103rd birthday. Image: NASA.

Born in 1906, Galloway began work with the Congressional Research Service of the Library of Congress in 1941 until her retirement in 1975. She authored many House and Senate documents including a report on "Guided Missiles in Foreign Countries," released just before the Soviets launched Sputnik in October 1957.

She became one of Washington's most influential space experts beginning in 1957, when she helped shape the creation of NASA. That year, aware of Galloway's report on guided missiles, then-U.S. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson asked her to help with Congressional hearings that led to the creation of NASA. She was ultimately appointed special consultant to the Senate Special Committee on Space and Astronautics in 1958. This was coincident with her employment at CRS. Galloway recalls: "The only thing I knew about outer space at that time was that the cow had jumped over the Moon."

Galloway helped write the legislation that created the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which in turn led to the birth of NASA on October 1, 1958. Her work emphasized international cooperation and peaceful exploration. She went on to support nine NASA Advisory Committees as a special consultant. Photo: Eilene with President Johnson and Glen Wilson at right and an unidentified man at left. Image courtesy of NASA.

She also contributed to the establishment of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (UNCOPUOS), and was a founding member of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), among countless other accomplishments. She attended COPUOS meetings on behalf of the Senate Special Committee on Space and Astronautics, contributing to the drafting of treaties governing the exploration and uses of outer space. She would later represent IISL at COPUOS and it was during this time that she helped launch the field of space law. According to her obituary, in the May 15, 2006 Congressional Record, in honor of her 100th birthday, Representative Bart Gordon (D-TN), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, called Dr. Galloway "an influential force in the development and analysis of domestic and international space law and policy."

From 1966 to 1975 she was a senior specialist in international relations focusing on national security for CRS, contributed as special consultant to both the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences (from 1958 to 1977) and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation (1977 to 1982).

In her words, written two years ago, she made this observation about the launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957:

"While our first reaction was that we faced a military problem of technology inferiority, the testimony from scientists and engineers convinced us that outer space had been opened as a new environment and that it could be used worldwide for peaceful uses of benefit to all humankind, for communications, navigation, meteorology and other purposes. Use of space was not confined to military activities. It was remarkable that this possibility became evident so soon after Sputnik and its significance cannot be understated. The problem became one of maintaining peace rather than preparing the United States to meet the threat of using outer space for war. Fear of war changed to hope for peace."