Advisory board members

Rotary National Award for Space Achievement

Board of Advisors

Abbey, George W. S.

Albaugh, Jim

Aldrich, Arnold D.

Aldridge, Jr., Edward C.

Allen, Lew

Armstrong, Neil A.

Asker, Jim

Augustine, Norman R.

Brandenstein, Dan

Cabana, Robert

Campbell, Donald J.

Carr, Jeffrey E.

Carreau, Mark E.

Cernan, Eugene

Coats, Michael L.

Cohen, Aaron

Collins, Eileen M.

Covey, Richard O.

Crippen, Robert

Culbertson, Jr., Frank L.

Dickman, Robert

Dittemore, Ronald D.

Engle, Joe H.

Estess, Roy S.

Fuqua, Donald

Gerstenmaier, William H.

Glenn, Jr., John H.

Griffin, Gerald D.

Griffin, Michael D.

Hartsfield, Henry W.

Hartz, Jim

Heflin, J. Milt

Hendershot, Cynthia

Hill, Shepard W.

Holloway, Tommy W.

Hutchinson, Neil B.

Hutchison, Kay Bailey

Johnson, Sandra G.

Karas, John C.

Kerwin, Joseph P.

Kraft, Jr., Christopher C.

Kranz, Eugene F.

Kropp, Debbie

Lunney, Glynn S.

McCall, Robert T.

Mitchell, Bob

Mueller, George E.

O’Brien, Miles

Parsons, William W.

Pickens, III, Thomas B.

Pulham, Elliot G.

Readdy, William F.

Reightler, Kenneth S.

Schmitt, Harrison H.

Shaw, Brewster H.

Short, Tom W.

Stafford, Thomas P.

Staples, William A.

Stephens, Richard D.

Stone, Randy

Truly, Richard H.

Vantine, William

Wilkins, III, John S.

Young, John W.
PRESS RELEASE

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For immediate release May 2, 2010

Media Contact: Marianne Dyson, 281-486-4747, [e-mail]

RNASA Foundation Stellar Award Winners Announced
The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) annual awards gala was held Friday, April 30 at the Houston Hyatt Regency. Houston Mayor Annise Parker welcomed the guests, veteran reporter Miles O’Brien served as emcee, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden gave the keynote address, and Johnson Space Center (JSC) Director Mike Coats and former NASA Administrator, Dr. Mike Griffin, presented the National Space trophy to NASA Associate Administrator for Human Spaceflight, Bill Gerstenmaier.
Another featured part of each year’s recognition of achievements in space is the announcement of winners of RNASA Stellar Awards. Nominations are solicited each fall from government, military, and aerospace industry leaders. In order to ensure recognition of individuals at all stages of their careers, nominations are solicited in four categories: early career, middle career, late career, and teams. The RNASA Foundation received 32 early, 42 middle, 29 late, and 33 team nominations this year.
Winners are selected by a Stellar Awards Evaluation Panel based on which accomplishments hold the greatest promise for furthering future activities in space, the extent to which the nominee played a key role in the accomplishment, and the extent to which the nominee meets the goal of recognizing "unsung heroes." The 2010 Evaluation Panel consisted of former National Associate Administrator for Space Systems Development, Arnold D. Aldrich, and former National Space Trophy winners, Drs. Christopher C. Kraft Jr. and Glynn S. Lunney who were in attendance at the banquet.
The 103 nominees and team representatives enjoyed a behind-the-scenes tour of JSC and a luncheon presentation by Hubble Servicing Mission Pilot, Captain Gregory C. Johnson, UNS (Ret.) at the Nassau Bay Hilton prior to the evening banquet.
At the banquet, astronauts Michael Foreman, Capt., USN (Ret.), and K. Megan McArthur, PhD, announced the winners and presented engraved marble trophies. McArthur said, “The Stellar Award winners represent the very best of the thousands of people working in our space program. We can truly be proud of all the Stellar Award nominees for they are all winners and give us hope for the future.”
There were six winners in the early career, nine winners in the middle career, five winners in the late career category, and six in the team category as follows:
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2010 Early Career Stellar Award Winners
Daniel P. Kelly of MEI Technologies, Inc. for outstanding innovation in the advancement of detector technology, including development and fabrication of the micro-shutter array for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Capt. Gina A. Peterson of USAF for extraordinary leadership in sustaining the GPS atomic clock industrial base and the design of the GPS III satellite payload which is critical to national security, economic prosperity, and international agreements.
Christopher B. Prouty of Lockheed Martin for outstanding human spaceflight contributions in the areas of EVA and Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle parachute systems that improved crew safety and ensured mission success.
Zachary R. Putnam of Draper Laboratory for excellence and innovation in development and implementation of the skip entry guidance algorithms to enable Orion lunar missions.
Lee Vyoral of Oceaneering Space Systems for outstanding leadership, unwavering attention to detail and exemplary work ethic in managing the development, delivery, and sustaining engineering of EVA space hardware.
Shawn R. White of Honeywell Aerospace Engineering & Technology for innovative application of technical knowledge and leadership skills in the development of Orion abort decision logic requirements.
2010 Middle Career Stellar Award Winners
Bradley N. Bell of L-3 Communications for pioneering efforts in developing unrivaled state-of-the-art 3D computer graphics rendering software used in astronaut and flight controller training systems and in engineering analyses for the Space Shuttle, ISS, and Constellation vehicles.
Dr. Charles H. Campbell of NASA JSC for unparalleled leadership and technical excellence in the area of hypersonic aerosciences, supporting both current and future human space exploration.
Dr. Edward J. Fitzgerald of The Boeing Company for outstanding technical leadership of a geographically diverse rocket propulsion engineering team on the space shuttle orbiter.
Reed A. Kakuska of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for unwavering pursuit of innovative approaches to complex propulsion issues enabling sustained mission success for Atlas V and Delta IV upper stages.
Lee S. Mason of NASA Glenn Research Center for outstanding leadership and technical contributions leading a multi-agency technical team in the development of power system technology and components resulting in an affordable space nuclear power system for NASA’s Fission Surface Power Project for use on the lunar and Martian surfaces.

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Dr. Evgeny V. Menkin of ARES Corporation for exemplary contributions to visiting vehicle integration that increased safety and reliability, reduced costs, and simplified ISS operations.
Samuel R. Wiley of Aerojet for exceptional spacecraft propulsion system leadership, including successful development and flight of the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) and Mercury Surface Space Environment Geochemistry and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecrafts.
Rita G. Willcoxon of NASA Kennedy Space Center for exceptional leadership of the NASA Launch Vehicle Processing Directorate to implement the Agency’s goal of safe completion of the Space Shuttle Program and help lead the nation’s space program into the future.
Richard J. Zeitler of United Space Alliance for exceptional skill, dedication and personal hands-on commitment to ensure safe and reliable performance of the orbiter through leadership of a large, complex team to address a broken poppet in the orbiter main propulsion system flow control valve.
2010 Late Career Stellar Award Winners
Jerry J. Clubb of ATK Space Systems for outstanding technical excellence in the field of spacecraft avionics development and operations with significant contributions to America’s flagship Human Space Flight and Exploration Programs.
George E. Hartnett of The Boeing Company for exceptional performance leading the Loads and Dynamics Analysis Team's efforts to mitigate STS-129 Space Shuttle main engine ignition and overpressure technical concerns, enabling mission success.
Edward M. Henderson of NASA JSC for exceptional achievement leading the Shuttle Derived Heavy Lift Vehicle Study Team.
Kenneth C. Kan of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for outstanding leadership for more than 34 years to the Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) Flight and Test team, contributing to the safety the Space Shuttle.
Larry A. Witherup of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for distinguished career and excellence in meeting the demands of space flight.
2010 Team Stellar Award Winners
Ares I-X First-Stage Team of ATK Space Systems for successful development of the integrated propulsion vehicle, enabling the Ares I-X launch. Joe Oliva accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Ares I-X Team of NASA for successful completion of the Ares I-X test flight, the first new vehicle tested at Kennedy Space Center since 1981, and the tallest current rocket in the world. Bob Ess accepted the award on behalf of the team.
continued
Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean Remote Atmospheric and Ionospheric Detection System Experiment Payload (HREP) of USAF for successful deployment of HREP, the first major Earth observing payload on the ISS and the first U.S. payload to fly on the Japanese Lab Exposed Facility. David Hess accepted the award on behalf of the team.
One EVA Team of Hamilton Sundstrand for outstanding track record of successful EVA missions allowing NASA to complete ISS, Hubble and Space Shuttle operations. David Romero accepted the award on behalf of the team.
RL10 Assured Access to Space of Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne for outstanding technical excellence and execution during the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle RL10 Assured Access to Space Program which designed and qualified reliability enhancements to the RL10 engine system. Rich Patz accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Shuttle Orbit Flight Control Team of Draper Laboratory for exceptional contributions in developing, certifying and providing real-time support of the Space Shuttle orbiter flight control system to enable assembly of the ISS. Doug Zimpfer accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Stellar winner photos will be posted on the RNASA Web Site Press Information page: http:www.rnasa.org/press.html.
The event was sponsored by: Aerojet, ARES Corporation, ATK Space Systems, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Barrios Technology, Bastion Technologies, Inc., Beacon Associates, Inc., Booz Allen Hamilton, Cimarron, Draper Laboratory, GB Tech, Inc., Griffin Communications Group, Hamilton Sundstrand, Honeywell, Jacobs, L-3 STRATIS, Lockheed Martin, ManTech International, MEI Technologies, Inc., MRI Technologies, Northrop Grumman Corporation, Oceaneering Space Systems, Omega Watches, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, SAIC, Stinger Ghaffarian Tech., The Aerospace Corporation, The Boeing Company, United Space Alliance, UH--Clear Lake School of Business, and Wyle Integrated Science and Engineering.
The nonprofit Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation was established by the Space Center Rotary Club of Houston in 1985 to organize and coordinate an annual awards event to recognize outstanding achievements in space and create greater public awareness of the benefits of space exploration. For more information, visit http://www.rnasa.org.
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