American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Awards to be presented at AIAA Space 2009 Conference and Exposition
August 31, 2009 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will present the following awards, recognizing key contributions to space science and technology, at a noon awards luncheon on September 16 as part of the AIAA SPACE 2009 Conference & Exposition, September 14, at the Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, Calif.
* Gird Hirzinger, director, Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics the DLR German Aerospace Center will receive the AIAA 2009 Space Automation and Robotics Award. Hirzinger is being honored for his outstanding contributions in the field of space automation and robotics, especially for his establishment and leadership of the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics at the DLR German Aerospace Center, and his work on the ROTEX, GETEX, and ROKVISS space robotic programs.
* The Tracking and Data Relay Satellites (TDRS-I) Recovery Team, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., and Boeing Space and Intelligent Systems, El Segundo, Calif., will receive the AIAA 2009 Space Operations and Support Award. Jeffery Gamling, NASA Recovery Team Lead, and Douglas Bender, Boeing Space and Intelligent Systems Recovery Team Lead, will accept the award on behalf of both teams. The teams are being honored for their outstanding efforts, innovation and outstanding accomplishments in the recovery of the TDRS-I satellite from its geosynchronous transfer orbit to its placement into the intended orbit resulting in its successful operation supporting spacecraft communications.
* The Chandrayaan-1 Mission, India Space Research Organization (ISRO), Bangalore, India, will receive the AIAA 2009 Space Systems Award. Mylswamy Annadural, project director, ISRO headquarters, will accept the award on behalf of the team, which is being honored its outstanding accomplishments in the design, develop-ment, launch and operations of India’s first scientific mission, Chandrayaan-1, operating beyond earth’s orbit.
* Kenneth Lipartito, professor of history at the Florida International University, Miami, Fla., and Orville Butler, associate historian at the Center for History of Physics at the American Institute of Physics, College Park, Md., will receive the AIAA 2009 Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Award. Lipartito and Butler are being honored for their work entitled “A History of the Kennedy Space Center.”
The AIAA SPACE 2009 Conference and Exhibition is co-chaired by NASA and the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, and sponsored by Orbital Sciences Corporation and Lockheed Martin Corporation. Additional sponsors include The Boeing Company, SpaceX, United Space Alliance, Stellar Solutions, Ball Aerospace Technologies, Harris Corporation, and The Aerospace Corporation. Aerospace America and Space News are the official media sponsors. Additional support is provided by the California Space Authority, the American Astronautical Society, and the AIAA Technical Activities Committee Space & Missiles Group.
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For more information on the AIAA Honors and Awards program, please contact Carol Stewart at 703.264.7623 or carols@aiaa.org. For more information on the AIAA SPACE 2009 Conference and Exposition, please contact Duane Hyland at 703.264.7558 or duaneh@aiaa.org. Conference registration is complimentary for credentialed members of the press.
AIAA is the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. With more than 35,000 individual members worldwide, and 90 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit www.aiaa.org.
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA 20191-4344
Phone: 703.264.7558 Fax: 703.264.7551 www.aiaa.org
