[Satnews] The International Astronautical Federation General Assembly has gathered during the International Astronautical Congress, IAC 2015, in two sessions (Monday, October 12, 2015, and Friday, October 16, 2015).
Several important decisions have been taken. Among these, the following:
The IAF General Assembly, at its meeting on October 16 at IAC 2015 in Jerusalem, elected Mr. Jean-Yves Le Gall for the position of Incoming President—he will assume IAF presidency in September of 2016.
Mr. Le Gall is the President of Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and IAF Vice-President for Industry Relations. Jean-Yves Le Gall is a trained engineer and scientist who has devoted his entire career to the European space program, holding positions within the French national scientific research agency CNRS, several French ministries, at Novespace and a first with CNES before joining Starsem and Arianespace, where he was Chairman and CEO until his appointment as President of CNES.
Mr. Jean-Yves Le Gall, incoming IAF President.
Based on the IAF Constitution, which was adopted in its revised version at last year’s IAC in Toronto, the IAF elects its Incoming President every three years. After one year in this position, Mr. Le Gall will assume full presidency for a term of three years. The current President of IAF is Mr. Kiyoshi Higuchi, who was elected in 2012 in Naples and whose term was renewed in 2014.
In addition, four new Vice-Presidents have been elected by the General Assembly: Professor Otto Koudelka, Head of the Institute of Communication Networks and Satellite Communications at Graz University of Technology; Mrs. Mary Snitch, Senior Manager, University and Industry Relations, Lockheed Martin Corporate Engineering, Technology and Operations; Professor Chris Welch , Professor of Space Engineering and Director Masters Programs at International Space University; and Dr. Alexander Degtyarev General Designer—General Director of SDO Yuzhnoye.
They will join the team of eight Vice-Presidents presently in office. Together, they will collaborate in furthering the mission of the Federation for the benefit of humanity.
Selection of Host City for IAC 2018
After careful review of the three proposals to host IAC 2018, received for Bremen (Germany), Vienna (Austria), Punta del Este (Uruguay), the IAF General Assembly at its second session on 16th October selected Bremen as Host City for IAC 2018. The Hosting Organization is the ZARM Drop Tower Operation and Service Company, a member of IAF since 1997.
New IAF Members
The IAF General Assembly also approved the applications of 31 new Member Organizations from 18 countries worldwide. With this, the IAF Membership comprises 306 Member Organizations from 66 countries, confirming IAF’s position as a truly global Federation.
The General Assembly in its second session revoked its earlier resolution of Monday, October 12, 2015, relating to the approval of the DPR Korea’s National Aerospace Development Administration’s application for membership to the IAF, based on new information received and unknown to the General Assembly at its first session.
