Board of Advisors, Lon L. Rains

Lon L. Rains

Communications Director, Space Systems Division,
Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems

Lon Rains headshot

Lon L. Rains is the Communications Director for the Space Systems Division of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, a premier provider of manned and unmanned aircraft, space systems and advanced technologies critical to our nation’s security and the advancement of human exploration.

In that role, he is responsible for providing media relations, marketing and advertising support to the Division’s programs and Business Development organization. In his role as Communications Director for the Space Park Center of Excellence, he is responsible for coordinating employee communications for the company’s Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo work force.

Previously, Rains was Vice President, Editorial, for Imaginova, the publisher of Space News and space.com. In that role he was responsible for all the news and editorial coverage in the weekly newspaper, the spacenews.com website and the Washington Aerospace Briefing newsletter. He joined the original staff of Space News as the Advanced Technology and Soviet Space Program reporter and was promoted to senior editor. He served as editor for 16 years.

Prior to Space News, Rains wrote for the Journal newspapers, a chain of dailies serving the Washington, D.C. suburbs. He wrote for The Washington Post, The Baltimore Evening Sun and Discover magazine. He also appeared on a number of national television programs, including CNN Prime News, ABC World News Tonight, NBC Nightly News and C-Span’s Washington Journal as an expert on various space topics.

As a working journalist from 1982 to 2008, he won reporting awards for editorial writing, spot news and public service journalism. He is also the 2009 recipient of the National Space Club’s Media Award. He is a member of the Board of Advisors of International Space University and the Board of Advisors for Galaxy Explorers, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science, technology, math and science careers to high school students. He graduated from the University of Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in government and politics.

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