by Master Sgt. Kate Rust
Air Force Space Command Public Affairs

11/25/2008 – PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. (AFNS) — One of the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers, retired Brig. Gen. Maurice A. Cristadoro Jr., 88, died Nov. 22. His wake and funeral will be held Nov. 28 in Pensacola, Fla.

Air Force Space Command officials inducted General Cristadoro to the Space and Missile Pioneers Hall of Fame in 2006 for his contributions to the Air Force space and missile program.

General Cristadoro was assigned to Western Development Division as deputy director of the Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile program and later as its program director. He was responsible for all aspects of Atlas acquisition, which had the highest national priority.

He was among a very small group of individuals intimately involved with the highly secretive preparations for using an Atlas booster to launch Signal Communications by Orbiting Relay Equipment, or SCORE, the world’s first communications satellite, in December 1958.

Years later, General Cristadoro would identify the SCORE mission, which resulted in the worldwide broadcast from space of President Eisenhower’s message of peace and goodwill, as the highlight of his military career.

It was an amazing jump, he recalled, from launching a small thermonuclear warhead to sending a full-size Atlas canister into orbit.

His granddaughter, Lt. Col. Christina M. Anderson, is assigned to the Defense Information Systems Agency.

“My grandfather was extremely proud of his role in the early missile program, and a highlight of his life was when AFSPC recognized his efforts in 2006,” she said.

In May 1989 officials from the U.S. Air Force and the National Space Club unofficially established the Air Force Space and Missile Pioneers Award. Ten honorees received the award at that time.

In 1997, in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Air Force and the 15th anniversary of the Air Force Space Command, the award was formalized into an official Air Force award. Since then a select few have been honored with the award each year.

The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals who played a significant role in the history of Air Force space and missile programs.