John Ira Petty
Johnson Space Center, TX
(281) 483-5111
Yanik DeschÍnes
Media and Public Relations
Canadian Space Agency
(450) 926-4370
www.space.gc.ca
Release: J00-11
Dr. Dave R. Williams, head of NASA/Johnson Space Centerís Directorate of
Space and Life Sciences and a Canadian Space Agency astronaut, has
received the prestigious Melbourne W. Boynton Award of the American
Astronautical Society for 1999.
Williams was cited for his “extraordinary contributions to the
successful implementation of the STS-90 Neurolab mission” and his
“leadership in developing innovative strategies for the advancement of
space medicine and Earth-based human health care and safety.”
Williams served as a mission specialist on the Neurolab mission, a
16-day flight beginning April 17, 1998. The seven-member crew aboard the
orbiter Columbia served as both experiment subjects and experiment
operators for the 26 investigations aboard. The science focused on
effects of microgravity on the brain and nervous system.
On that flight Williams spent 381 hours in space and traveled 6.3
million miles.
Williams was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. He holds bachelor
of science, master of science, doctorate of medicine and master of
surgery degrees from McGill University in Montreal. He subsequently
served as a researcher and practitioner of emergency medicine.
He was selected by the Canadian Space Agency as an astronaut in 1992 and
served as manager of the Missions and Space Medicine group. In 1995 he
was selected to join NASAís international class of mission specialist
astronaut candidates.
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