As an associate attorney at ispace US, Rebecca van Burken finds fulfillment helping engineers overcome legal and regulatory hurdles to get their hardware to space.
“It’s the closest I could get to getting a rocket science experience, without getting a STEM degree,” she told Payload. “I love the idea that you’re never done learning.”
Origin story: van Burken was already applying to law school when she fell into the space industry. One undergraduate class on domestic and international space policy led to a connection. From that opportunity, she took on an internship at the Commercial Space Federation that taught her a lot about the industry—and inspired her to apply her law degree to it.
“This internship changed the course of my career, from joining the counterterrorism community to the space community. It even inspired me to write my law school personal statement about Star Wars,” she said. “I joined this space community driven by a desire to help build a better future not only for the US, but also internationally, using my passion for law.”
Helping hand: van Burken is committed to making sure those wanting to enter the industry after her have a solid foundation. She volunteers with the Future Space Leaders Foundation and the Space Generation Advisory Council. With those groups, she organizes networking events and provides informal mentorship to young professionals—especially those like herself who are interested in space policy, law, or business who do not have a traditional STEM background.
