2020 Stellar Award Winners
The RNASA Foundation was unable to honor the 2020 RNASA Stellar Award winners in person due to developments with the COVID-19 pandemic. This page celebrates the U.S. space achievements accomplished by these Stellar Award winners.
The 147 nominations were evaluated by the Stellar Awards Evaluation Panel: Deputy Director for Engineering in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Dr. Sandra Magnus, and former National Space Trophy winners, Dr. Glynn S. Lunney, Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, USAF (Ret.), Capt. Michael L. Coats, USN (Ret.), and David Thompson.
The winners are displayed in slideshows grouped by category below. Click on the winner's name or headshot to see their nomination citation. Within the citation slide, click on the image to see a higher resolution image (if available).
For a full list of 2020 Stellar nominees, please see the 2020 Stellar Nominees page.
2020 Early Career Stellar Award Winners
Gerald C. Alaniz of CACI, Inc
Brian F. Banker of NASA Johnson Space Center
Shannon Stiles Coggin of United Launch Alliance
Dylan Faherty of Aerojet Rocketdyne
Benjamin Fearn of Collins Aerospace
Maj. Christian M. Lewis of the United States Air Force
Michael A. Skeen of Lockheed MartinWinner 1 / 7
Gerald C. Alaniz of CACI, Inc - Critical contributions to the success of the Seeker mission, its safe operation, and its ability to meet the accelerated schedule of an ISS X-Project.
Winner 2 / 7
Brian F. Banker of NASA Johnson Space Center - Outstanding work on SAFER and Seeker, and mentoring the next generation of propulsion engineers.
Winner 3 / 7
Shannon Stiles Coggin of United Launch Alliance - Leadership, technical accomplishments and expertise leading the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Production Operations team's installation and integration of the launch vehicle adapter that will connect Boeing's CST-100 Starliner to ULA's Atlas V rocket.
Winner 4 / 7
Dylan Faherty of Aerojet Rocketdyne - Exceptional technical knowledge in welding and outstanding technical leadership to implement a robust methodology for fracture control compliance on the Orion Program.
Winner 5 / 7
Benjamin Fearn of Collins Aerospace - Outstanding contribution to the NASA Flight Test Program for the CST Program.
Winner 6 / 7
Maj. Christian M. Lewis of the United States Air Force - Successful development of two classified, multi-billion dollar game-changing capabilities across the intelligence and defense communities that have reshaped the space industry.
Winner 7 / 7
Michael A. Skeen of Lockheed Martin - Exceptional expertise across multiple systems engineering disciplines, resulting in innovative solutions to OSIRIS-REx's sample acquisition challenges.
2020 Mid Career Stellar Award Winners
Jennifer L. Devolites of NASA Johnson Space Center
Lt. Col. Brandon L. Erwin of the United States Air Force
Jeremy J. Graeber of NASA Kennedy Space Center
Shelia D. Gray Haggard of Lockheed Martin
Lance R. Lininger of Lockheed Martin
Troy A. McCracken of KBRIan J. Mills of NASA Johnson Space Center
Dr. Chandrashekhar G. Sonwane of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
James Stein of Oceaneering Space SystemsWinner 1 / 9
Jennifer L. Devolites of NASA Johnson Space Center - Outstanding leadership and dedication to the in-house design, development, testing, and flight operations of Orion's Ascent Abort 2 Crew Module and Separation Ring Project.
Winner 2 / 9
Lt. Col. Brandon L. Erwin of the United States Air Force - Outstanding contributions as a true "unsung hero" - ensuring mission success by operating behind the scenes with deep technical, contractual, and teaming skills necessary to solve the toughest problems.
Winner 3 / 9
Jeremy J. Graeber of NASA Kennedy Space Center - Exceptional performance and commitment to excellence in furthering NASAs launch capabilities and human spaceflight exploration through the Artemis mission campaign.
Winner 4 / 9
Shelia D. Gray Haggard of Lockheed Martin - Innovative system-level verification approach resulting in successful execution of eleven NASA interplanetary spacecraft.
Winner 5 / 9
Lance R. Lininger of Lockheed Martin - Outstanding technical excellence in the design, development, qualification and delivery of all of the Orion mechanisms for the successful Ascent Abort 2 flight test and the Artemis 1 and 2 Orion spacecraft.
Winner 6 / 9
Troy A. McCracken of KBR - Pioneering and leading robotics operations critical to the repair and utilization of the International Space Station.
Winner 7 / 9
Ian J. Mills of NASA Johnson Space Center - Innovation in telerobotic satellite servicing and the remote operation of International Space Station robotics.
Winner 8 / 9
Dr. Chandrashekhar G. Sonwane of American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics - Outstanding technical and leadership contributions in unmanned spaceflight, missiles, interceptors, torpedoes, and the Human Space Launch System, as well as helping the aerospace community through AIAA.
Winner 9 / 9
James Stein of Oceaneering Space Systems - Outstanding dedication, determination, performance and passion in the development of systems to support future human spaceflight programs.
2020 Late Career Stellar Award Winners
Daksha Chokshi of Aerojet RocketdyneEva Crawford of Jacobs
Dr. Dale C. Ferguson of USAF Air Force Research Laboratory
Jeff P. Harbour of ARES Corporation
Charles M. Lundquist of NASA Johnson Space Center
Sandra A. Mossman of Lockheed Martin
Mayra A. Nelman-Gonzalez of KBR
Thomas S. Vaughn of Northrop Grumman
Michael Withey of Oceaneering Space SystemsWinner 1 / 9
Daksha Chokshi of Aerojet Rocketdyne - Exceptional leadership and contributions to variation reduction and statistical evaluations for manned and unmanned rocket propulsion hardware over a long and illustrious career.
Winner 2 / 9
Eva Crawford of Jacobs - Superior electronics fabrication, exceptional lab leadership, and invaluable mentorship throughout many space missions and projects spanning nearly 50 years.
Winner 3 / 9
Dr. Dale C. Ferguson of USAF Air Force Research Laboratory - Outstanding contributions for understanding spacecraft interactions with their environments, thereby significantly enhancing spacecraft safety, reliability, and situational awareness.
Winner 4 / 9
Jeff P. Harbour of ARES Corporation - Exceptional contributions to the development, sustainment, and maintenance of the NASA Mission Evaluation Room resulting in the highest reliability for this critical flight operations capability.
Winner 5 / 9
Charles M. Lundquist of NASA Johnson Space Center - Exceptional leadership of NASA Orion production and testing, resulting in the AA2 flight, delivery of Artemis 1 CSM for vehicle level testing, and many other accomplishments.
Winner 6 / 9
Sandra A. Mossman of Lockheed Martin - Outstanding technical and programmatic systems integration leadership resulting in successful spacecraft flight tests.
Winner 7 / 9
Mayra A. Nelman-Gonzalez of KBR - Outstanding contributions to advancements in immunological research, including innovations to further space flight imaging capabilities by expanding accessibility and usability across multiple disciplines.
Winner 8 / 9
Thomas S. Vaughn of Northrop Grumman - Successful leadership in the casting and final assembly teams for the world's first human-rated controllable solid rocket, the Orion LAS ACM.
Winner 9 / 9
Michael Withey of Oceaneering Space Systems - Numerous superb accomplishments over a 40+ year career supporting human spaceflight programs at NASA's Johnson Space Center.
2020 Team Stellar Award Winners
Orion Launch Abort Attitude Control Motor Qualification and Altitude Abort Flight Test Team of Northrop Grumman
ECOsystem Space-borne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station Team of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Boeing Space Launch System Liquid Hydrogen Tank Structural Qualification Test Team
SpaceX Demo 1 Operations & Test Team of SpaceX
SpaceX Demo 1 Operations & Test Team of NASA Kennedy Space Center
CST-100 Starliner Internal Loads Team of The Boeing CompanyCST-100 Starliner Thermal Vacuum Test Team of The Boeing CompanyWinner 1 / 6
Orion Launch Abort Attitude Control Motor Qualification and Altitude Abort Flight Test Team of Northrop Grumman - Outstanding team accomplishment in qualification and flight of the world's first human-rated controllable solid rocket, the Orion ACM. (Team Representative: Albert Drendel)
Winner 2 / 6
ECOsystem Space-borne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station Team of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Outstanding technical excellence in the development and demonstration of the ECOSTRESS instrument for studying plant water dynamics on Earth from the International Space Station. (Team Representative: Dr. Simon Hook)
Winner 3 / 6
Boeing Space Launch System Liquid Hydrogen Tank Structural Qualification Test Team - Successful execution of the SLS liquid hydrogen tank structural qualification test as the largest structural test article on the SLS program. (Team Representative: Matthew Klein)
Winner 4 / 6
SpaceX Demo 1 Operations & Test Team of SpaceX and NASA Kennedy Space Center - Exceptional dedication leading to the success of the SpaceX Demonstration Mission-1 for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. (Pictured: SpaceX Team; Team Representative: Aarti Matthews)
Winner 4 / 6
SpaceX Demo 1 Operations & Test Team of SpaceX and NASA Kennedy Space Center - Exceptional dedication leading to the success of the SpaceX Demonstration Mission-1 for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. (Pictured: NASA Kennedy Space Center Team; Team Representative: Michael Lee)
Winner 5 / 6
CST-100 Starliner Internal Loads Team of The Boeing Company - Pioneering innovative, computational processes for rapid analysis and verification of structural hardware. (Team Representative: Adam Martin)
Winner 6 / 6
CST-100 Starliner Thermal Vacuum Test Team of The Boeing Company - Outstanding multidisciplinary teamwork to execute a non-traditional test to prove anomaly mitigation and critical subsystem performance of CST-100 Starliner. (Team Representative: Dan Reynolds)