2010 PRESS/PHOTO INFORMATION
Post-Event Press Release
May 7, 2010
Media Contact: Marianne Dyson, 281-486-4747, dyson@rnasa.org
Clear Brook High School Army JROTC
Hans Stockenberger
Houston Mayor Annise Parker
Emcee Miles O'Brien
NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Jr
National Space Trophy Winner Bill Gerstenmaier
Former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin
NASA Astronauts K. Megan McArthur and Mike Foreman
Johnson Space Center Director Mike Coats
Apollo veteran Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford
RNASA President Rodolfo González
The Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) annual awards gala was held Friday, April 30 at the Houston Hyatt Regency hotel. The colors were presented by Clear Brook High School Army JROTC, and the national anthem was sung by Hans Stockenberger.
Houston Mayor Annise Parker welcomed the crowd of more than 800 people, saying, "I'm absolutely passionate about space and space exploration and always have been." She said it was an honor to be mayor of a city "that is always looking to the future" and that "will continue to invite change and innovation."
After a dinner that included chocolate space shuttles for dessert, the audience was treated to a Year-in-Review video showing the many space accomplishments in 2009, including the final Hubble servicing mission and assembly of the International Space Station.
Emcee Miles O'Brien then began the awards portion of the program by showing a comedic video he produced in which NASA managers, including NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr, pretended that NASA's new mission was a probe of the distinctive mustache of National Space Trophy Winner Bill Gerstenmaier. O'Brien joked that he would be the "first journalist in face."
Space City Films then showed a Space Shuttle Tribute video that received a standing ovation.
After the video, Bolden said, "The Space Shuttle has been the most remarkable feat of technological development and operation that I think that we will ever know in our lifetime." However, he said that "it has done its due, served our nation well, but it is time to move on." He expressed concern that "With every single flight, it becomes more and more risky" because "we have a workforce that's really in turmoil... struggling with a lot of different things, so it is very easy for people to become distracted." The former fighter pilot and shuttle astronaut admitted that though he loves doing the "risky stuff" involved in spaceflight, that nothing short of the future of our nation depends upon safely flying the remaining shuttle flights.
Responding to criticism about the cancellation of the Constellation program, Bolden acknowledged that "We're about to depart from anything that we've ever done before" by placing commercial industry in the critical path to develop a new human spaceflight capability. Calling his critic and former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin (who was in attendance) one of his best and smartest friends, Bolden said, "We don't have a difference in our friendship. We have a disagreement in the course that we're about to follow." He added that "We will never all agree, and that's good. ... We have got to have the opportunity to have respectful discourse and disagreement."
Bolden praised NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, Bill Gerstenmaier, whom he called "an incredibly strong right arm to me. ... I don't think you all could not have picked a better recipient [for the National Space Trophy] this year."
After Bolden's keynote address, NASA Astronauts K. Megan McArthur, PhD, and Capt. Mike Foreman, USN (Ret.) presented Stellar Awards to 20 individuals and 6 teams. A press release about the Stellar Award winners is posted on the RNASA Web site, http://www.rnasa.org/press.
Johnson Space Center Director Mike Coats and Dr. Mike Griffin presented the National Space Trophy to Gerstenmaier. Coats recalled how, during his first Space Shuttle flight, Gerstenmaier was a Propulsion Officer in Mission Control and had to correct one of Coats' switch throws. He said Gerstenmaier "made me look good and certainly helped our mission be successful. ... Bill is the ultimate space professional, and the one all of us look to. He's the perfect man for a critical job at a critical time in NASA's space history."
Griffin said, "This is my favorite dinner of the year." He remarked that many people were comparing Constellation to Apollo "with the thought that we don't want to do anything that might look like Apollo." He said "Apollo made me pretty proud to be an American." He then informally polled the audience, asking if they'd rather do something like Apollo or "innovative game-changing technologies." Hearing much applause for Apollo, he said, "I thought so." Then he said, "But whichever thing we do, we are very fortunate that it can be led by people like Bill Gerstenmaier." Calling the title of Director of Space Operations the coolest title in the world, he said it was his enormous personal pleasure to appoint Gerstemaier to that position and work with him for four years.
Gerstemaier attributed his success to everyone working as a team. He suggested that though change is tough, we should "look forward boldly to the future." He recommended we keep a sense of optimism and let our curiosity drive us. He said that we will never get all the resources or political will that we want, but that we can use our ingenuity "to figure out new ways to do things," and have the integrity and courage to meet the challenges in front of us. "If we keep that sense of optimism, that sense of curiosity, keep that ingenuity, keep that integrity, and keep that courage, we can do great things, and we will do great things."
The evening concluded with Apollo veteran Lt. Gen. Thomas Stafford, USAF (Ret.) presenting an OMEGA watch to Gerstenmaier, and RNASA President Rodolfo González thanking the corporate sponsors.
Visit http://www.rnasa.org/press for more press information and http://www.rnasa.org/photos for high resolution images of individuals named above.
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Stellar Award Winner Press Release
May 2, 2010
Media Contact: Marianne Dyson, 281-486-4747, dyson@rnasa.org
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:
2010 Early Career Stellar Award Winners
Caption L to R: Foreman (presenting), White, Vyoral, Putnam, Peterson, Prouty, Kelly, McArthur (presenting). (NASA) Click for a high resolution copy.
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
Caption L to R: McArthur (presenting), Mason, ?Kakuska, Fitzgerald, ?Campbell, Bell, Menkin, Wiley, Willcoxon, Zeitler, and Foreman (presenting).
(NASA) Click for a high resolution copy.
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.
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
Caption L to R: Foreman (presenting), Henderson, Kan, Witherup, Clubb, and McArthur (presenting). Hartnett not pictured. (NASA) Click for a high resolution copy.
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
Caption L to R: McArthur (presenting), Ess, Romero, Oliva, Zimpfer, Patz, Ballard, Hess, and Foreman (presenting).
(NASA) Click for a high resolution copy.
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.
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.
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.
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Press Release
Rotary National Award for Space Achievement
January 13, 2010
Media Contact: Marianne Dyson, 281-486-4747, dyson@rnasa.org
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Bill Gerstenmaier (NASA/Bill Ingalls, 2005)
NASA's Bill Gerstenmaier Honored with National Space Trophy
The Board of Advisors of the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation has selected NASA Associate Administrator for Space Operations, William (Bill) H. Gerstenmaier, as the recipient of the 2010 National Space Trophy. As Associate Administrator, Gerstenmaier is responsible for oversight of all NASA's Space Shuttle, International Space Station (ISS), space launch services programs, and the astronaut crew health program, and the communication systems network.
Rodolfo González, President of the RNASA Foundation in Houston, Texas, reported that Gerstenmaier was nominated for "his unwavering commitment and remarkable contributions to human space flight and providing outstanding leadership and direction to the exploration of space through his contributions to the Space Shuttle and International Space Station programs."
Director of NASA Langley Research Center in Virginia, Mrs. Lesa B. Roe, former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, Johnson Space Center Director Mike Coats, and RNASA Advisor and Apollo 17 Astronaut Harrison Schmitt nominated Gerstenmaier.
Roe said, "Gerstenmaier's career achievements and personal initiatives have had a direct impact on the current U.S. human space flight program, the international community, and residents of planet Earth. His efforts will continue to shape the future of space exploration for many years to come."
"It was my honor to work with Bill for four years," Griffin, who received the National Space Trophy last year, said. "Quite simply, Bill Gerstenmaier is regarded as the ultimate authority on Space Shuttle and International Space Station. When he says something, people listen, and they know that what he says is true."
Coats added, "Bill's impact in the space community is unparalleled. He has literally guided an international group of thousands of individuals in many countries in furthering human space flight and assuring a continued human presence in space. The partnerships we currently enjoy with our international partners for the ISS are largely due to Bill's tremendous efforts and diligence."
Schmitt noted that "Gerstenmaier has masterfully carried the primary senior management responsibility (since 2005) for the success of Space Shuttle and International Space Station activities."
The RNASA Foundation is pleased to honor Bill Gerstenmaier at the 24th annual awards gala on April 30, 2010 at the Houston Hyatt Regency hotel. See http://www.rnasa.org for information about the event.
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Gerstenmaier's biography is posted on the 2010 National Space Trophy Recipient page.