Fostering Diversity around the World, the IAC Success Story by the IAF

The 68th International Astronautical Congress held in Adelaide, Australia on 25 – 29 September 2017 ended Friday 29 September. More than 4.500 space enthusiasts coming from 84 countries gathered in the welcoming city of Adelaide for an intense week of events, meetings, collaborations and discovering.

A memorable IAC enriched by the participation of space icons among which Charles Bolden who won the Federation’s most prestigious award: IAF World Space Award; Bill Nye, the Science Guy who enlightened the audience with a presentation on the phenomenal story of LightSail®, a solar sailing spacecraft; and to conclude, Elon Musk on his updated plans to make Humans a Multi-Planetary Species.

As in previous years, the IAF General Assembly, composed of the IAF Bureau and Members’ representatives met in two sessions. On behalf of the Federation, IAF President, Jean-Yves Le Gall warmly acknowledged four outgoing Vice-Presidents for their outstanding contributions to the IAF, and welcomed four new Vice-Presidents: Gabriella Arrigo, Seishiro Kibe, Valanathan Munsami, and Baohua Yang. Moreover, the IAF General Assembly selected the country that will host the IAC in three years to come. The verdict is pronounced: the 71st International Astronautical Congress – IAC 2020, will officially be hosted in Dubai by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Center – MBRSC.

The IAF also kept its commitment to diversity by enhancing the participation of the young generation to the IAC. Indeed, the Federation decided to increase the number of students and young professionals that will be selected to participate in the IAF Emerging Space Leaders Grant Programme from 14 to 25. This grant programme enables each year students and young professionals between age of 21 and 35 to participate in the IAC, as well as in the UN/IAF Workshop and the Space Generation Congress

initiative, putting diversity at its core of its agenda with the 3G, Generation, Gender, Geography focus, is resulting into an enormous success and a tremendous improvement into the composition of the IAF Community.