Meeting in Vancouver, Canada during the 55th International Astronautical Congress, the General Assembly of the International Astronautical Federation (IAF) has elected a new eleven-person team to lead the activities of the 160-member organization for the coming two years.
The new President of the IAF is James V. Zimmerman who also serves as President of International Space Services, Inc. of McLean, Virginia, USA. Zimmerman replaces Marcio Barbosa, Deputy General Director of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), who served as IAF President from 2000 to 2004.
Six new Vice Presidents will join Zimmerman on the IAF Bureau:
• Anatoly Grigoriev who also serves as Director, Institute of Biomedical Problems, Moscow, Russia
• Virendra K. Jha who also serves as Vice President for Science and Technology Programs of the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Quebec, Canada
• Anne-Marie Mainguy who also serves as Head of the Lille Centre, Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (ONERA), Lille, France
• Yasunori Matagawa who serves as Associate Executive Director and Director, Public Outreach and Space Education Programs, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Tokyo, Japan
• Robert C. Parkinson who also serves as a Consultant and Visiting Professor in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary, University of London, Aylesbury, United Kingdom
• Victor Reglero who also serves as a Professor, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain
Four individuals were also re-elected to serve additional two-year Vice Presidential terms:
• Klaus Berge who also serves as an independent Space Consultant, Hennef, Germany
• Mukund Rao who also serves as Deputy Director for Earth Observations Systems, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Bangalore, India
• Stuart W. Thomson who also serves as Vice President, International Business Development, The Boeing Company, Seal Beach, California, USA
• Yuan Jia-Jun who also serves as President and Chief Executive Officer, Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST), Beijing, China
Founded in 1951 with member organizations in 45 countries, the IAF provides a global forum for the exchange of information on and promotion of space activities. Each year the IAF organizes an International Astronautical Congress in cooperation with the International Academy of Astronautics and the International Institute of Space Law. 1,250 space professionals and approximately 400 students attended the most recent Congress, held in Vancouver, Canada from 4-8 October 2004. The next International Astronautical Congress will be held in Fukuoka, Japan from 17-21 October 2005.
The IAF also organizes specialized workshops and is managing an international earth observations data networking project in cooperation with the European Space Agency. Further information on these activities can be found on the IAF web site www.iafastro.com