Speakers

Speaker profile

Mr. Schuman is a former lawyer for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in the United States. He served as lead counsel for the James Webb Space Telescope Project from inception through launch and operation, as well as the Roman Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, and many other science projects of international significance. He spent nearly 35 years with the Federal government, retiring from NASA in June 2024, to move to Vienna, Austria, to support his wife’s career. While at NASA, Mr. Schuman provided legal advice to senior officials at the Center, with its $3B budget, 3000 civil servants, and the nation’s largest combined concentration of scientists and engineers. His practice areas included all aspects of the Federal procurement process; Space Act agreements under NASA’s other transactions authority with Government agencies such as DoD, DoE, and FAA, private sector companies, and educational institutions; and insurance requirements for commercial launches at Wallops Flight Facility. International experience includes working with INTA for launch of the first satellite from Spanish territory; advising NASA’s away team for NASA’s first controlled satellite reentry; analysing legal issues arising from the early delivery of an ISS partner module; and expediting an international contract with a Swiss company in support of the Artemis Program. He served as Center Export Counsel, providing ITAR advice on nationality issues, protection and transfer of information, voluntary disclosures, and Wolf Amendment restrictions on bi-lateral interactions with China. Litigation experience includes Federal District Court, the D.C. Circuit, the Court of Federal Claims, GAO, and ASBCA. Mr. Schuman defended NASA on two airfield contract claims saving the Center more than $2M. He enjoys teaching and collaborated with the Department of Justice Office of Information Policy for more than 25 years, offering training to other Government attorneys. At NASA, Mr. Schuman provided advice to many interesting clients, including NASA’s first Nobel Prize winner on awards acceptance and ethics issues. Detail assignments included work for a United States Senator on the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, serving as Executive Officer to NASA’s Chief of Staff, and serving as Executive Officer to NASA’s Associate Administrator for Science. Mr. Schuman has a deep interest in NASA history and was privileged to interview Paul Dembling, author of the Space Act. He recently represented the IAU and NSS, at the Legal Subcommittee, and General Meeting, of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, and the NSS at the ITU Space Sustainability Forum, discussing the topic of dark and quiet skies.