Hubble Space Telescope Team Wins Space Foundation Award

The Space Foundation
announced today that the Hubble Space Telescope Team has been selected to
receive the 2001 Space Foundation Space Achievement Award.
Hubble was
selected for its unprecedented and enduring contributions, over ten years of
operation, to humankind’s understanding of the universe and our place in it.

The award will be presented April 9, 2001 during the 17th National Space
Symposium’s Opening Ceremony.
The symposium, which gathers top space leaders
from industry, the military and government, is hosted by the Space Foundation
and takes place April 9-12, 2001 in Colorado Springs.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been at the forefront of astronomical
discovery for the past 10 years, since its launch in April 1990.
Returning an
enormous volume of images and scientific data, Hubble has not only accounted
for a tremendous advance in our understanding of the cosmos, but has engaged
and excited the public with its amazing images and profound discoveries.

“The Hubble team is richly deserving and very appreciative of this
prestigious award,” said Dr. Anne Kinney, Director of NASA’s Origins Program.
“Over the years they have implemented Hubble’s scientific observing programs,
kept the spacecraft operating at peak efficiency, developed the advanced
scientific instruments and other new technologies that keep Hubble up-to-date,
while planning the servicing missions with the Space Shuttle Astronauts.
The
team that keeps this national treasure operating smoothly for the benefit of
everyone on Earth has, like all of us, been truly amazed at what this
wonderful observatory has enabled us to see out to the very farthest reaches
of the Universe.”

The Space Foundation annually recognizes an individual or organization
that has demonstrated lifetime achievement, breakthrough space technology, or
program or product success deemed to represent a critical milestone in the
evolution of space exploration and development.
Previous recipients of the
Space Achievement Award include Sea Launch, the NASA/Boeing International
Space Station Team, General Thomas S. Moorman, Jr., and Capt. James Lovell,
Commander, Apollo 13.

Preliminary symposium program information, on-line registration and
membership signup are available at www.spacesymposium.org or by calling the
Space Foundation at 1-800-691-4000.