Washington, DC – The National Space Club (NSC) is pleased to announce its annual award recipients. The Awards are selected by panels of experts from across the aerospace and defense industry, and are a testament to the inspiring work of individuals across our nation. The Awards will be presented at the 55th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner, taking place at the Washington Hilton Hotel on Friday, March 30, 2012.
The following will receive awards at this year’s dinner:
The Dr. Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy is the Club’s preeminent award and it is given to recognize significant contribution to United States leadership in the field of rocketry and astronautics. This year’s award will be presented to The GPS Originators Team, for their significant contributions to the development of the Global Positioning System, one of the most innovative space inventions of all time and recently recognized as one of the greatest space contributions to humanity.
Troy E. Meink, Director, Signals Intelligence Systems Acquisition Directorate and Larry D. Bell, Director, Space Systems Program Office, National Reconnaissance Office, will receive the Dr. Joseph V. Charyk Award for their demonstrated exceptional leadership in the Signals Intelligence Systems Acquisition Directorate, achieving full operational capability of the Integrated Overhead Signals Intelligence Architecture, thereby fulfilling long-standing Intelligence Community and National Security Agency needs.
Dr. Jianglong Zhang, Assistant Professor, University of North Dakota, receives the NOAA – David Johnson Award for his pioneering role in the assimilation of satellite-retrieved aerosol data into an operational forecast model; work that has been far-reaching in both operational and climate-forecast modeling communities.
Frank Morring, Deputy Managing Editor for Space, Aviation Week & Space Technology will be recognized with the Press Award for his exceptional contributions to the space industry that have helped promote an understanding and progression of space exploration endeavors.
Carolyn Bushman, Science Teacher, Wendover High School, Wendover UT, is the recipient of the Space Educator Award for her work inspiring, educating and developing the next generation of students in space science through creative programs, competitions and extensive participation of her students in NASA and other space education programs.
Garry M. Lyles, Associate Director for Technical Management Engineering Directorate, NASA/Marshall Space Flight Center, will receive the Astronautics Engineer Award for his dedication, exceptional leadership, and engineering expertise in the development of new space transportation architecture, his demonstrated allegiance to America’s space program and advancement of the nation’s future in space.
Col. Arnold H. Streland, Director, Space Superiority Systems Directorate (SMC/SY) U.S. Air Force, Space and Missile Systems Center, will receive the General Bernard Schriever Award for honoring the General’s legacy and vision by recognizing excellence in military space operations and acquisition. In 2011, Col Streland led the Space Superiority Systems Directorate with exceptional leadership, blazed revolutionary paths in space acquisition, and delivered space superiority capabilities that enhanced the warfighter’s ability to utilize national space assets with accuracy and precision.
Chelsea M. Welch, Student, University of Colorado at Boulder, will receive the Goddard Memorial Scholarship to provide for her continued graduate level study of Astrodynamics and Satellite Navigation Systems with emphasis on interplanetary orbit determination as a way of lessening the flight time of future interplanetary explorers.
Cecilia Brooke Sanders, Student, Huntingtown High School, is the recipient of the Olin E. Teague Memorial Scholarship, for the analysis and identification of spectral features used to narrow and validate earlier surface composition and surface features found on Saturn’s moons, Iapetus, Tethys, Mimas, Dione, and Rhea, using emissivity spectra from the Cassini-Huygens Mission’s Composite Infrared Spectrometer, CIRS.
Stephen F. Cash, Manager, Space Shuttle Propulsion Office NASA Marshall Space Flight Center will receive the Eagle Manned Mission Award for his outstanding leadership of the Space Shuttle propulsion elements, especially the External Tank stringer crack resolution, allowing successful fly-out of the Space Shuttle program.
The Kepler Mission under the direction of Roger Hunter, Project Manager, NASA Ames Research Center, and John Troeltzsch, Project Manager, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., are the recipients of the Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award. On December 5, 2011 NASA announced that its Kepler Mission had confirmed its first planet in the “habitable zone,” the region where liquid water could exist on a planet’s surface in a distant solar system. Kepler also discovered more than 1,000 new planet candidates, nearly doubling its previously known count. Ten of these candidates are near-Earth-size and orbit in the habitable zone of their host star. Recently, NASA’s Kepler Mission discovered the existence of a “circumbinary” planet, orbiting around two stars; a concept introduced by “Star Wars” over thirty years ago.
Individuals and organizations interested in attending the 55th Annual Robert H. Goddard Memorial Dinner on Friday, March 30, 2012 at the Washington Hilton, may find more information on our website www.spaceclub.org. For specific questions please contact NSC at info@spaceclub.org or by calling 202-547-0060.
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National Space Club
204 E Street, NE Ye Washington, DC 20002
Phone: 202.547.0060 Ye Fax: 202.547.6348
www.spaceclub.org
