Space policy and law pioneer Eilene Galloway

Space-Law Pioneer Eilene Galloway Dead at 102
Aviation Week

Eilene Marie Galloway, who helped draft the legislation that created NASA and went on to become an internationally recognized expert in space law and policy, died May 2 of cancer. She was 102.

After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on Oct. 4, 1957, then-Sen. Lyndon Johnson (D-Texas), who chaired the Armed Services preparedness subcommittee, turned to Galloway in her role as a national defense analyst at the Library of Congress, for help in setting up hearings on U.S. preparedness in space. Those hearings led to creation of the Senate Special Committee on Space and Astronautics. Johnson later became President, shepherding much of the U.S. build-up.

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INTEGRAL SYSTEMS PRESS RELEASE

Integral Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISYS) (“Company”) today reported financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2009.

Revenue for the quarter was $42.8 million, up 13.4% over 2008. Gross margin for the quarter was 38.2% compared to 28.8% for the same period last year. Second quarter 2009 income from operations was $4.2 million compared to $4.4 million recorded in the second quarter of the last fiscal year. The decline in operating income reflects higher selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) costs. Diluted earnings per share for the second quarter of 2009 was $0.15 compared to $0.16 per share for the second quarter of fiscal 2008.

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Space Shuttle

Signaling the end of the space shuttle program, slightly more than 100 workers have been laid off at the eastern New Orleans plant where the orbiter’s huge external fuel tanks have been built for more than three decades, company officials confirmed Monday.

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XCOR's Lynx suborbital vehicle

Commercial Spaceflights May Be Restricted
Aviation Week

The way U.S. export controls work for space technologies could prevent commercial space operators from taking non-U.S. citizens on spaceflights, and the industry is urging reform of the system to prevent U.S. companies from being overtaken by foreign competitors.

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ESA's ExoMars Rover

NASA PRESS RELEASE

NASA has selected two science investigations that will aid in the interior examination of Mars and probe the tenuous atmosphere of Mercury. The projects, valued at approximately $38 million, also establish new alliances with the European Space Agency, or ESA.

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Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia

NASA PRESS RELEASE

NASA will join with Accomack County, Virginia, and the Marine Science Consortium, a nonprofit educational institution comprised of 14 State of Pennsylvania colleges and universities, to officially recognize the establishment of the Wallops Research Park during a ceremony at 10 a.m., May 6, at the Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center, Wallops Island, Va.

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Spacevidcast 2.14 explores proposed cutbacks in NASA’s Constellation program and the upcoming shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Spacework's Foresight Spacecraft

Bruce Betts of the Planetary Society is blogging from the Planetary Defense Conference in Granada, Spain. He reports that the winners of the society’s Apophis Mission Design Competition are presenting their plans to rendezvous with the Apophis asteroid.

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The Space Review has pieces this week about space tourism, debris mitigation, solar power and science missions.

NASA presented Congress with options last week for extending space shuttle missions beyond 2010.

Hawaii State Rep. Gene Ward discuses efforts to create a spaceport in America’s in the islands.

Space Florida

Citing an “economic calamity” that Florida’s Space Coast is facing as NASA winds down its shuttle program, the Orlando Sentinel is urging Gov. Charlie Crist to replace Space Florida President Steve Kohler.

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