Eilene Galloway
In 1958 President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act into law. NASA came into being soon afterwards. Dr. Eilene Galloway was instrumental in crafting the philosophy and approach to America’s space program, turning a reaction born of fear from the threat of Sputnik towards a focus on peaceful exploration. Galloway died on May 2nd. She was 102. Her government work in space policy is well documented, being public record, but it took a little digging to find out more about how she got there. There are transcripts online of oral histories she has given and scattered information in obituaries.

Galloway was born on May 4, 1906 (so she was practically 103!) in Kansas City, Missouri. Her father was in the Marine Corps and she had no siblings so her mother raised her alone. She was captain of the high school debate team and attended Washington University in St. Louis, transferring to Swarthmore College and graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1928 with a political science degree. She credits a Swarthmore honors program with providing the background in indisciplinary research that gave her the skills to determine how to organize the government to form a successful space program. She taught at Swarthmore after graduation. She and her husband, George Barnes Galloway, moved to D.C. in 1931 where she worked for Federal Emergency Relief Administration during the Great Depression.

Galloway was working as the National Defense Analyst in the Library of Congress when she wrote “Guided Missiles in Foreign Countries” shortly before Sputnik launched. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson asked her to consult for and then serve on the committees formed to discuss the country’s readiness for the space race. From there, Galloway, born only a few years after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, became “The Grand Matriarch of Space Law” authoring legislation that propelled the country into that new frontier. She consistently argued for the continuation of peace in space, opposing the idea of occupation or sovereignty claims by nations. Swarthmore awarded her an honorary doctorate in 1992. Galloway attributed her longevity to good genes, but also quipped “I drank a lot of milk and I didn’t smoke.” She consulted Marcus Aurelius‘ The Meditations when in need of guidance. (Sources: oral history transcripts 1, 2 SpaceRef obituary 100th birthday inteview Aviation Week obituary)