77-1129: Award for scientific contribution towards aeronautical/space exploration goals Award NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal [REDACTED] NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal Type Medal Country United States Presented by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Eligibility Government employees and non-government personnel Status Active Established September 15, 1961 [REDACTED] NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Ribbon Precedence Next (higher) Exceptional Achievement Medal Exceptional Service Medal Outstanding Service Medal (obsolete) Equivalent Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal Exceptional Administrative Achievement Medal Equal Employment Opportunity Medal Next (lower) Exceptional Bravery Medal The NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal (abbrv. ESAM )
154-607: A decade of reliance on the Russians. In 2019, NASA announced the Artemis program , intending to return to the Moon and establish a permanent human presence. This was paired with the Artemis Accords with partner nations to establish rules of behavior and norms of space commercialization on the Moon. In 2023, NASA established the Moon to Mars Program office. The office is designed to oversee
231-629: A month after the Soviet Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, executing a full orbital spaceflight. NASA's first orbital spaceflight was conducted by John Glenn on February 20, 1962, in the Friendship 7 , making three full orbits before reentering. Glenn had to fly parts of his final two orbits manually due to an autopilot malfunction. The sixth and final Mercury mission was flown by Gordon Cooper in May 1963, performing 22 orbits over 34 hours in
308-570: A permanently manned space station and to do it within a decade. In 1985, NASA proposed the Space Station Freedom , which both the agency and President Reagan intended to be an international program. While this would add legitimacy to the program, there were concerns within NASA that the international component would dilute its authority within the project, having never been willing to work with domestic or international partners as true equals. There
385-628: A possible source of antimatter at the center of the Milky Way and observing that the majority of gamma-ray bursts occur outside of the Milky Way galaxy. The Chandra X-ray Observatory was launched from the Columbia on STS-93 in 1999, observing black holes, quasars , supernova , and dark matter . It provided critical observations on the Sagittarius A* black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy and
462-532: A space station since the agency was created. In 1973, following the end of the Apollo lunar missions, NASA launched its first space station, Skylab , on the final launch of the Saturn V. Skylab reused a significant amount of Apollo and Saturn hardware, with a repurposed Saturn V third stage serving as the primary module for the space station. Damage to Skylab during its launch required spacewalks to be performed by
539-492: Is different from Wikidata National Aeronautics and Space Administration The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA / ˈ n æ s ə / ) is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the civil space program , aeronautics research, and space research. Established in 1958 , it succeeded the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) to give
616-583: The Faith 7 . The Mercury Program was wildly recognized as a resounding success, achieving its objectives to orbit a human in space, develop tracking and control systems, and identify other issues associated with human spaceflight. While much of NASA's attention turned to space, it did not put aside its aeronautics mission. Early aeronautics research attempted to build upon the X-1's supersonic flight to build an aircraft capable of hypersonic flight . The North American X-15
693-658: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency would launch Explorer 1 , America's first satellite, on February 1, 1958. The Eisenhower Administration decided to split the United States' military and civil spaceflight programs, which were organized together under the Defense Department 's Advanced Research Projects Agency . NASA was established on July 29, 1958, with the signing of the National Aeronautics and Space Act and it began operations on October 1, 1958. As
770-762: The Bell X-1 in a joint program with the U.S. Air Force . NACA's interest in space grew out of its rocketry program at the Pilotless Aircraft Research Division. The Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 ushered in the Space Age and kicked off the Space Race . Despite NACA's early rocketry program, the responsibility for launching the first American satellite fell to the Naval Research Laboratory 's Project Vanguard , whose operational issues ensured
847-641: The Big Bang , through the James Webb Space Telescope , the four Great Observatories , and associated programs. The Launch Services Program oversees launch operations for its uncrewed launches . NASA traces its roots to the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). Despite being the birthplace of aviation, by 1914 the United States recognized that it was far behind Europe in aviation capability. Determined to regain American leadership in aviation,
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#1732876497210924-608: The Big Bang . The James Webb Space Telescope , named after the NASA administrator who lead the Apollo program, is an infrared observatory launched in 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope is a direct successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, intended to observe the formation of the first galaxies. Other space telescopes include the Kepler space telescope , launched in 2009 to identify planets orbiting extrasolar stars that may be Terran and possibly harbor life. The first exoplanet that
1001-931: The Commercial Crew Program , and oversees the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System for the lunar Artemis program . NASA's science division is focused on better understanding Earth through the Earth Observing System ; advancing heliophysics through the efforts of the Science Mission Directorate 's Heliophysics Research Program; exploring bodies throughout the Solar System with advanced robotic spacecraft such as New Horizons and planetary rovers such as Perseverance ; and researching astrophysics topics, such as
1078-753: The Environmental Science Services Administration on a series of weather satellites and the agency launched its experimental Applications Technology Satellites into geosynchronous orbit. NASA's first dedicated Earth observation satellite, Landsat , was launched in 1972. This led to NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration jointly developing the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite and discovering Ozone depletion . NASA had been pursuing spaceplane development since
1155-676: The Europa and observed that the moon may hold ice or liquid water. A joint NASA- European Space Agency - Italian Space Agency mission, Cassini–Huygens , was sent to Saturn 's moon Titan , which, along with Mars and Europa, are the only celestial bodies in the Solar System suspected of being capable of harboring life. Cassini discovered three new moons of Saturn and the Huygens probe entered Titan's atmosphere. The mission discovered evidence of liquid hydrocarbon lakes on Titan and subsurface water oceans on
1232-742: The Johnson Space Center as the lead center for the design, development, and manufacturing of the Space Shuttle orbiter , while the Marshall Space Flight Center would lead the development of the launch system. NASA's series of lifting body aircraft, culminating in the joint NASA-U.S. Air Force Martin Marietta X-24 , directly informed the development of the Space Shuttle and future hypersonic flight aircraft. Official development of
1309-634: The Mars Global Surveyor orbiter and Mars Pathfinder , deploying the first Mars rover, Sojourner . During the early 2000s, the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter reached the planet and in 2004 the Sprit and Opportunity rovers landed on the Red Planet. This was followed in 2005 by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and 2007 Phoenix Mars lander. The 2012 landing of Curiosity discovered that
1386-1635: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Decorations [REDACTED] Congressional Space Medal of Honor (astronauts only) [REDACTED] Distinguished Service Medal [REDACTED] Distinguished Public Service Medal [REDACTED] Outstanding Leadership Medal [REDACTED] Outstanding Public Leadership Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Service Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Public Service Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Bravery Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Engineering Achievement Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Technology Achievement Medal [REDACTED] Equal Employment Opportunity Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Administrative Achievement Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Achievement Medal [REDACTED] Exceptional Public Achievement Medal [REDACTED] Early Career Achievement Medal [REDACTED] Silver Achievement Medal NASA Group Achievement Award [REDACTED] Space Flight Medal (astronauts only) [REDACTED] Space Exploration Medal Obsolete [REDACTED] Outstanding Service Medal Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=NASA_Exceptional_Scientific_Achievement_Medal&oldid=1252827833 " Categories : Awards and decorations of NASA Awards established in 1961 Hidden categories: CS1 maint: unfit URL Articles with short description Short description matches Wikidata Short description
1463-589: The Orbiting Geophysical Observatory in the 1960s and 1970s to look down at Earth and observe its interactions with the Sun. The Uhuru satellite was the first dedicated x-ray telescope, mapping 85% of the sky and discovering a large number of black holes . Launched in the 1990s and early 2000s, the Great Observatories program are among NASA's most powerful telescopes. The Hubble Space Telescope
1540-631: The STS-1 mission, designed to serve as a flight test for the new spaceplane. NASA intended for the Space Shuttle to replace expendable launch systems like the Air Force's Atlas , Delta , and Titan and the European Space Agency 's Ariane . The Space Shuttle's Spacelab payload, developed by the European Space Agency, increased the scientific capabilities of shuttle missions over anything NASA
1617-616: The STS-60 mission in 1994 and the Discovery rendezvoused, but did not dock with, the Russian Mir in the STS-63 mission. This was followed by Atlantis' STS-71 mission where it accomplished the initial intended mission for the Space Shuttle, docking with a space station and transferring supplies and personnel. The Shuttle- Mir program would continue until 1998, when a series of orbital accidents on
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#17328764972101694-471: The Space Race when the Soviet Union gave up its lunar ambitions. As the first human to step on the surface of the Moon, Neil Armstrong uttered the now famous words: That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. NASA would conduct six total lunar landings as part of the Apollo program, with Apollo 17 concluding the program in 1972. Wernher von Braun had advocated for NASA to develop
1771-609: The Space Shuttle began in 1972, with Rockwell International contracted to design the orbiter and engines, Martin Marietta for the external fuel tank , and Morton Thiokol for the solid rocket boosters . NASA acquired six orbiters: the Enterprise , Columbia , Challenger , Discovery , Atlantis , and Endeavour The Space Shuttle program also allowed NASA to make major changes to its Astronaut Corps . While almost all previous astronauts were Air Force or Naval test pilots,
1848-602: The United States Congress created the Aviation Section of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1914 and established NACA in 1915 to foster aeronautical research and development. Over the next forty years, NACA would conduct aeronautical research in support of the U.S. Air Force , U.S. Army , U.S. Navy , and the civil aviation sector. After the end of World War II , NACA became interested in the possibilities of guided missiles and supersonic aircraft, developing and testing
1925-405: The inner planets . Despite these successes, Congress was unwilling to fund further interplanetary missions and NASA Administrator James Webb suspended all future interplanetary probes to focus resources on the Apollo program. Following the conclusion of the Apollo program, NASA resumed launching interplanetary probes and expanded its space science program. The first planet tagged for exploration
2002-516: The 1960s, blending the administration's dual aeronautics and space missions. NASA viewed a spaceplane as part of a larger program, providing routine and economical logistical support to a space station in Earth orbit that would be used as a hub for lunar and Mars missions. A reusable launch vehicle would then have ended the need for expensive and expendable boosters like the Saturn V . In 1969, NASA designated
2079-655: The 44 commercial companies that contracted with NASA to deploy their satellites to return to expendable launch vehicles. When the Space Shuttle returned to flight with the STS-26 mission, it had undergone significant modifications to improve its reliability and safety. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Russian Federation and United States initiated the Shuttle- Mir program . The first Russian cosmonaut flew on
2156-611: The Air Force as the military space lead. Plans for human spaceflight began in the U.S. Armed Forces prior to NASA's creation. The Air Force's Man in Space Soonest project formed in 1956, coupled with the Army's Project Adam, served as the foundation for Project Mercury . NASA established the Space Task Group to manage the program, which would conduct crewed sub-orbital flights with the Army's Redstone rockets and orbital flights with
2233-496: The Air Force's Atlas launch vehicles. While NASA intended for its first astronauts to be civilians, President Eisenhower directed that they be selected from the military. The Mercury 7 astronauts included three Air Force pilots, three Navy aviators, and one Marine Corps pilot. On May 5, 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to enter space, performing a suborbital spaceflight in the Freedom 7 . This flight occurred less than
2310-410: The Apollo program. Despite attacks on the goal of landing astronauts on the Moon from the former president Dwight Eisenhower and 1964 presidential candidate Barry Goldwater , President Kennedy was able to protect NASA's growing budget, of which 50% went directly to human spaceflight and it was later estimated that, at its height, 5% of Americans worked on some aspect of the Apollo program. Mirroring
2387-660: The Army Ballistic Missile Agency's original Saturn I . The Apollo spacecraft was designed and built by North American Aviation , while the Apollo Lunar Module was designed and built by Grumman . To develop the spaceflight skills and equipment required for a lunar mission, NASA initiated Project Gemini . Using a modified Air Force Titan II launch vehicle, the Gemini capsule could hold two astronauts for flights of over two weeks. Gemini pioneered
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2464-479: The Department of Defense's program management concept using redundant systems in building the first intercontinental ballistic missiles, NASA requested the Air Force assign Major General Samuel C. Phillips to the space agency where he would serve as the director of the Apollo program. Development of the Saturn V rocket was led by Wernher von Braun and his team at the Marshall Space Flight Center , derived from
2541-735: The John A. Simpson Papers" , webpage of the University of Chicago Library. Retrieved November 15, 2007. ^ "Astronaut Bio: W.E. Thornton 05/94" . Archived from the original on 2015-03-20 . Retrieved 2021-01-19 . ^ NASA News (MSFC), Release No. 78-85, 20 July 1978 ^ "Directory Page Title" . William & Mary . Retrieved 2020-12-30 . ^ Vitug, Eric (2017-05-25). "Joel S. Levine" . NASA . Retrieved 2020-12-30 . ^ "NASA Honor Awards Presented at JPL" (Press release). Pasadena, California: Jet Propulsion Laboratory . 1985-12-05. Archived from
2618-558: The Keplar space telescope confirmed was Kepler-22b , orbiting within the habitable zone of its star. NASA also launched a number of different satellites to study Earth, such as Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS) in 1960, which was the first weather satellite. NASA and the United States Weather Bureau cooperated on future TIROS and the second generation Nimbus program of weather satellites. It also worked with
2695-548: The Martian interior. The 2021 Perseverance rover carried the first extraplanetary aircraft, a helicopter named Ingenuity . NASA also launched missions to Mercury in 2004, with the MESSENGER probe demonstrating as the first use of a solar sail . NASA also launched probes to the outer Solar System starting in the 1960s. Pioneer 10 was the first probe to the outer planets, flying by Jupiter , while Pioneer 11 provided
2772-472: The Moon and going to Mars. Embracing this approach, NASA's Commercial Crew Program started by contracting cargo delivery to the International Space Station and flew its first operational contracted mission on SpaceX Crew-1 . This marked the first time since the retirement of the Space Shuttle that NASA was able to launch its own astronauts on an American spacecraft from the United States, ending
2849-469: The Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s and installed James E. Webb as NASA administrator to achieve this goal. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy openly declared this goal in his "Urgent National Needs" speech to the United States Congress, declaring: I believe this Nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on
2926-427: The Moon and returning him safely to Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. Kennedy gave his " We choose to go to the Moon " speech the next year, on September 12, 1962 at Rice University , where he addressed the nation hoping to reinforce public support for
3003-453: The Orders and Medals Society of America. Retrieved November 15, 2007. ^ The Tennessean, Nashville, TN. Sunday, 28 Sep 2014 ^ JPL Universe Newspaper. "JPL Universe March 2013, Volume 43, Number 3" (PDF) . Jet Propulsion Laboratory . ^ Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington . "Leovy" . Retrieved 2011-03-20 . ^ "Guide to
3080-607: The Russians be included. In 1993, the Clinton Administration announced that the Space Station Freedom would become the International Space Station in an agreement with the Russian Federation. This allowed the Russians to maintain their space program through an infusion of American currency to maintain their status as one of the two premier space programs. While the United States built and launched
3157-507: The Russians to fly to the International Space Station for four days, despite the opposition of NASA to the idea. Advocates of this new commercial approach for NASA included former astronaut Buzz Aldrin , who remarked that it would return NASA to its roots as a research and development agency, with commercial entities actually operating the space systems. Having corporations take over orbital operations would also allow NASA to focus all its efforts on deep space exploration and returning humans to
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3234-422: The Solar System. Mars has long been a planet of intense fascination for NASA, being suspected of potentially having harbored life. Mariner 5 was the first NASA spacecraft to flyby Mars, followed by Mariner 6 and Mariner 7 . Mariner 9 was the first orbital mission to Mars. Launched in 1975, Viking program consisted of two landings on Mars in 1976. Follow-on missions would not be launched until 1996, with
3311-549: The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, NASA was forced to rely on Russian Soyuz launches for its astronauts and the 2011 retirement of the Space Shuttle accelerated the station's completion. In the 1980s, right after the first flight of the Space Shuttle, NASA started a joint program with the Department of Defense to develop the Rockwell X-30 National Aerospace Plane. NASA realized that
3388-418: The Space Shuttle allowed NASA to begin recruiting more non-military scientific and technical experts. A prime example is Sally Ride , who became the first American woman to fly in space on STS-7 . This new astronaut selection process also allowed NASA to accept exchange astronauts from U.S. allies and partners for the first time. The first Space Shuttle flight occurred in 1981, when the Columbia launched on
3465-505: The Space Shuttle and expand space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Constellation was intended to use a significant amount of former Space Shuttle equipment and return astronauts to the Moon. This program was canceled by the Obama Administration . Former astronauts Neil Armstrong , Gene Cernan , and Jim Lovell sent a letter to President Barack Obama to warn him that if the United States did not get new human spaceflight ability,
3542-544: The Space Shuttle began flying, selling it as an orbital laboratory, repair station, and a jumping off point for lunar and Mars missions. NASA found a strong advocate in President Ronald Reagan , who declared in a 1984 speech: America has always been greatest when we dared to be great. We can reach for greatness again. We can follow our dreams to distant stars, living and working in space for peaceful, economic, and scientific gain. Tonight I am directing NASA to develop
3619-660: The Space Shuttle, while a massive technological accomplishment, would not be able to live up to all its promises. Designed to be a single-stage-to-orbit spaceplane, the X-30 had both civil and military applications. With the end of the Cold War , the X-30 was canceled in 1992 before reaching flight status. Following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, President Bush started the Constellation program to smoothly replace
3696-483: The Space Shuttle. Due to technical challenges, the spacecraft was cancelled in 2001. Despite this, it was the first time a commercial space company directly expended a significant amount of its resources into spacecraft development. The advent of space tourism also forced NASA to challenge its assumption that only governments would have people in space. The first space tourist was Dennis Tito , an American investment manager and former aerospace engineer who contracted with
3773-507: The Space Station Freedom was controversial, with much of the debate centering on cost. Several redesigns to reduce cost were conducted in the early 1990s, stripping away much of its functions. Despite calls for Congress to terminate the program, it continued, in large part because by 1992 it had created 75,000 jobs across 39 states. By 1993, President Bill Clinton attempted to significantly reduce NASA's budget and directed costs be significantly reduced, aerospace industry jobs were not lost, and
3850-452: The Sun". Friedman worked at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) the entirety of his professional career, from 1940-1980. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1960. He received the Eddington Medal of the Royal Astronomical Society in 1964. That same year, he was elected to the American Philosophical Society . This United States astronomer article
3927-399: The U.S. risked become a second or third-rate space power. As early as the Reagan Administration, there had been calls for NASA to expand private sector involvement in space exploration rather than do it all in-house. In the 1990s, NASA and Lockheed Martin entered into an agreement to develop the Lockheed Martin X-33 demonstrator of the VentureStar spaceplane, which was intended to replace
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#17328764972104004-409: The U.S. space development effort a distinct civilian orientation, emphasizing peaceful applications in space science . It has since led most of America's space exploration programs, including Project Mercury , Project Gemini , the 1968–1972 Apollo Moon landing missions, the Skylab space station, and the Space Shuttle . Currently, NASA supports the International Space Station (ISS) along with
4081-5173: The US Distinguished Service Award & many others. [Conway B. Leovy] 1974 – John A. Simpson, William Edgar Thornton August F. Witt, Carolyn L. Huntoon 1975 – Edward Purdy Ney 1976 – Tito T. Serafini 1977 – Janos K. Lanyi 1978 – Elihu Boldt, Hale Bradt, Herbert Friedman , Gordon Garmire, Herbert Gursky , Walter Lewin , Frank McDonald , Laurence Peterson , Alvin Seiff, Robert Tolson 1979 – Milton Halem 1980 – Riccardo Giacconi (2002 Nobel Laureate in Physics) 1981 – Andrew Ingersoll , Talivaldis Spalvins 1982 – Mary Helen Johnston , Jeff Cuzzi, James V. Taranik 1983 – Joel S. Levine 1984 – Donald B. Campbell , Fred Gillett , James R. Houck , Frank Low 1985 – Prem Chand Pandey , SAC / ISRO , NCAOR and IIT Kharagpur , India , Parviz Moin 1986 – Jeff Cuzzi, Crofton B. Farmer, Frank J. Grunthaner, Taylor G. Wang 1988 – Nitza Margarita Cintrón , Hal A. Weaver , Michael J. Mumma 1989 – Mario Molina (1995 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry), Donald J. Kessler , Inez Fung 1990 – Charles M. Telesco, John W. Harvey, Martin A. Pomerantz 1991 – Khairul B. M. Q. Zaman, John C. Mather (2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics), Manuel D. Salas, Roy W. Spencer, John Christy 1992 – Charles L. Bennett, John C.Brandt, Edward S. Cheng, Donald D. Clayton , Holland C. Ford, Edward J. Groth , Richard J. Harms, Sara E. Heap, Peter Jakobson, William H. Jefferys, Thomas Kelsall, Michael D. King, Tod R. Lauer , David S. Leckrone, F. Duccio Macchetto, Stephan S. Meyers, S. Harvey Moseley, Thomas L. Murdock, Ruth Pater , Michael J. Prather, Richard A. Shafer, Robert F. Silverberg, Wei-kuo Tao, James A. Westphal, Ray J. Weymann, Edward L. Wright, James A. DiCarlo, Nathan S. Jacobson, George Smoot (2006 Nobel Laureate in Physics) 1993 – Rebecca A. MacKay 1994 – Robert A. Bindschadler, Theodore E. Bunch, Emmett W. Chappelle, Malcolm M. Cohen, Dale P. Cruikshank, Hay C. Hardin, Alice K. Harding, Donald Horan, Winifred M. Huo, Isabella T. Lewis, Erick Malaret, Camden McCarl, Robert Riesse, Piers J. Sellers, Trevor C. Sorensen, Thomas A. Zang Jr. 1995 – James L. Smialek, Maria T. Zuber , Robert D. Moser 1996 – Kevin Zahnle, Carolyn Shoemaker , Eugene Merle Shoemaker 1997 – James O. Arnold, David H. Atkinson, David H. Bailey, John E. Carlstrom, Ara Chutjian, John W. Connell, Harald M. Fischer, Everett K. Gibson Jr., William L. Grose, Marshall K. Joy, Kathie L. Thomas-Keprta, Louis J. Lanzerotti, David S. McKay, Michael J. Mumma, Hasso B. Niemann, Glenn S. Orton, Peter A. Pilewskie, Carolyn Purvis, Boris Ragent, Alvin Seiff, Lawrence Sromovsky, Ulf von Zahn, Richard N. Zare 1998 – Narottam P. Bansal, Timothy J. Lee 1999 – Jeff Cuzzi, Martin Weisskopf 2000 – Hugh J. Christian Jr., Joan Feynman , Mona J. Hagyard, Yoram J. Kaufman, Ellis E. Remsberg 2002 – Thomas P. Charlock, Gilles Peltzer 2003 – Philip R. Christensen , Jean O. Dickey , Geoffrey W. Marcy , Martin G. Mlynczak, Ronald L. Moore, Richard F. Mushotzky, Eric Rignot , Farid Salama, Wei-Kuo Tao 2004 – Charles L. Bennett, Randall G. Hulet, David P. Kratz, Steven J. Ostro, Thomas L. Sever, Chris R. Webster, Yuk-ling Yung 2005 – Ichiro Fukumori, James R. Houck , Nicholas Leventis, Steven Suess, Michael Watkins 2006 – Michael F. A’Hearn , David Charbonneau , Drake Deming, Neil Gehrels , John Le Marshall, Edward C. Stone, Tod Strohmayer, Larry W. Thomason 2007 – Scott Braun, Donald Brownlee , Joan Centrella , Moustafa Chahine, Mark S. Marley, Eric Rignot, Alan Title 2008 – Anthony Del Genio, David G. Fischer, Gerald M. Heymsfield, Russell A. Howard, Ronald Kwok, Michael I. Mishchenko, Son V. Nghiem 2009 – James E. Fesmire, Gilles Peltzer, Michael J. Mumma, Anne R. Douglass 2010 – Peter H. Smith, William V. Boynton, Heather L. Enos, Christopher R. Shinohara 2011 – Carl J. Grillmair, Suzanne E. Smrekar , Yuhe T. Song, Timothy J. Lee, Eric Jensen, Jason Rowe, Jeff Scargle, Cheryl A. Nickerson 2013 – David Paige 2014 – Joshua Coleman, Daniel Huber 2015 – Carrie M. Anderson 2016 – David R. Ciardi , Amy R. Winebarger, Francesco Tombesi, Hiroya Yamaguchi, Ignacy Telesman, Jason Rowe 2017 – Sylvain Guiriec, Maria Cristina De Sanctis, Samuel Gulkis, Thomas H. Prettyman, Michele Vallisneri , Kasthuri J. Venkateswaran 2018 – Susan E. Mullally, Michael B. Stenger, Adolfo Figueroa Vinas, Gordon Holman , Lazaros Oreopoulos, Richard Ray, M. Cristina De Sanctis, Walter A. Petersen, Michael Russell 2019 – John D. Bolten, Carl R. Devore, Alex Glocer, Jonathan H. Jiang, Erin A. Kara, Fei Liu, Elizabeth A. MacDonald, Amy A. Simon, Lynn B. Wilson III, Cheol Park, Andreas Nathues 2020 – Renee C. Weber, Zaven Arzoumanian 2021 – John Baross , Eli Dwek, Floyd William Stecker, Xu Liu, Eleonora Troja 2022 – Sibasish Laha, Jane Rigby, Michael McElwain, Charles Nickolos Arge 2023 –Hongbin Yu, Koji Mukai, Glyn Collinson, Pankaj Kumar See also [ edit ] List of NASA awards References [ edit ] ^ "Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal" , webpage of
4158-409: The US's premier aeronautics agency, NACA formed the core of NASA's new structure by reassigning 8,000 employees and three major research laboratories. NASA also proceeded to absorb the Naval Research Laboratory's Project Vanguard, the Army's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the Army Ballistic Missile Agency under Wernher von Braun . This left NASA firmly as the United States' civil space lead and
4235-420: The first close up view of the planet. Both probes became the first objects to leave the Solar System. The Voyager program launched in 1977, conducting flybys of Jupiter and Saturn , Neptune , and Uranus on a trajectory to leave the Solar System. The Galileo spacecraft, deployed from the Space Shuttle flight STS-34 , was the first spacecraft to orbit Jupiter, discovering evidence of subsurface oceans on
4312-405: The first crew to make it habitable and operational. Skylab hosted nine missions and was decommissioned in 1974 and deorbited in 1979, two years prior to the first launch of the Space Shuttle and any possibility of boosting its orbit. In 1975, the Apollo–Soyuz mission was the first ever international spaceflight and a major diplomatic accomplishment between the Cold War rivals, which also marked
4389-402: The first humans to see the Earth as a globe in space, the first to witness an Earthrise , and the first to see and manually photograph the far side of the Moon. The first lunar landing was conducted by Apollo 11. Commanded by Neil Armstrong with astronauts Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins , Apollo 11 was one of the most significant missions in NASA's history, marking the end of
4466-451: The last flight of the Apollo capsule. Flown in 1975, a U.S. Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz capsule. During the 1960s, NASA started its space science and interplanetary probe program. The Mariner program was its flagship program, launching probes to Venus , Mars , and Mercury in the 1960s. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory was the lead NASA center for robotic interplanetary exploration, making significant discoveries about
4543-434: The majority of the International Space Station, Russia, Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency all contributed components. Despite NASA's insistence that costs would be kept at a budget of $ 17.4, they kept rising and NASA had to transfer funds from other programs to keep the International Space Station solvent. Ultimately, the total cost of the station was $ 150 billion, with the United States paying for two-thirds.Following
4620-427: The moon of Enceladus , which could harbor life. Finally launched in 2006, the New Horizons mission was the first spacecraft to visit Pluto and the Kuiper Belt . Beyond interplanetary probes, NASA has launched many space telescopes . Launched in the 1960s, the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory were NASA's first orbital telescopes, providing ultraviolet, gamma-ray, x-ray, and infrared observations. NASA launched
4697-978: The original on 2008-09-17 . Retrieved 2023-02-21 . ^ Massachusetts Institute of Technology (October 11, 1995). "MIT's Mario Molina wins Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovery of ozone depletion" . Retrieved 2008-05-31 . ^ "Inez FUNG" . Our Environment at Berkeley . Retrieved 2018-10-16 . ^ J. Harvey Curriculum Vitae , webpage retrieved November 15, 2007. ^ "NASA Funds Development of Destiny: The Dark Energy Space Telescope" . National Optical Astronomy Observatory . August 3, 2006 – via SpaceRef Interactive. ^ "Scientist Renowned for her Polymer Research" . National Aeronautics and Space Administration . March 20, 2021. ^ "Awards Won – Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Laboratory – 614" . science.gsfc.nasa.gov . Retrieved 2021-06-19 . ^ "NASA Bestows Honors on UA Phoenix Mars Mission Members" . UANews.org. 2010-06-15. Archived from
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#17328764972104774-1142: The original on December 4, 2010 . Retrieved 2010-07-31 . {{ cite web }} : CS1 maint: unfit URL ( link ) ^ "Awards Won – Solar System Exploration Division – 690" . science.gsfc.nasa.gov . Retrieved 2021-01-19 . ^ 2017 NASA Honor Awards, Jet Propulsion Laboratory . National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2017. JPL D-100813 9/17. ^ "Awards Won – Space Weather Laboratory – 674" . science.gsfc.nasa.gov . ^ "NASA Honor Awards Ceremony" (PDF) . ^ "Astrobiologist John Baross Receives NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal" . NASA Atsrobiology News. ^ "Astrobiologist John Baross Receives NASA's Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal" . NASA Atsrobiology News. ^ "Awards - Sciences and Exploration Directorate" . science.gsfc.nasa.gov . Retrieved 2024-07-02 . External links [ edit ] List of NASA Honor Awards Materials Division – NASA Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medals v t e Awards and decorations of
4851-449: The radiation levels on Mars were equal to those on the International Space Station , greatly increasing the possibility of Human exploration, and observed the key chemical ingredients for life to occur. In 2013, the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution ( MAVEN ) mission observed the Martian upper atmosphere and space environment and in 2018, the Interior exploration using Seismic Investigations Geodesy, and Heat Transport ( InSight ) studied
4928-453: The satellites were repaired and relaunched. Despite ushering in a new era of spaceflight, where NASA was contracting launch services to commercial companies, the Space Shuttle was criticized for not being as reusable and cost-effective as advertised. In 1986, Challenger disaster on the STS-51L mission resulted in the loss of the spacecraft and all seven astronauts on launch, grounding the entire space shuttle fleet for 36 months and forced
5005-430: The separation of dark and regular matter during galactic collisions. Finally, the Spitzer Space Telescope is an infrared telescope launched in 2003 from a Delta II rocket. It is in a trailing orbit around the Sun, following the Earth and discovered the existence of brown dwarf stars . Other telescopes, such as the Cosmic Background Explorer and the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe , provided evidence to support
5082-458: The setback caused by the Apollo 1 fire, which killed three astronauts, the program proceeded. Apollo 8 was the first crewed spacecraft to leave low Earth orbit and the first human spaceflight to reach the Moon . The crew orbited the Moon ten times on December 24 and 25, 1968, and then traveled safely back to Earth . The three Apollo 8 astronauts— Frank Borman , James Lovell , and William Anders —were
5159-421: The space shuttle be retired. In 2006, the Space Shuttle returned to flight, conducting several mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope , but was retired following the STS-135 resupply mission to the International Space Station in 2011. NASA never gave up on the idea of a space station after Skylab's reentry in 1979. The agency began lobbying politicians to support building a larger space station as soon as
5236-427: The space station spelled an end to the program. In 2003, a second space shuttle was destroyed when the Columbia was destroyed upon reentry during the STS-107 mission, resulting in the loss of the spacecraft and all seven astronauts. This accident marked the beginning of the retiring of the Space Shuttle program, with President George W. Bush directing that upon the completion of the International Space Station,
5313-579: The use of fuel cells instead of batteries, and conducted the first American spacewalks and rendezvous operations . The Ranger Program was started in the 1950s as a response to Soviet lunar exploration, however most missions ended in failure. The Lunar Orbiter program had greater success, mapping the surface in preparation for Apollo landings and measured Selenography , conducted meteoroid detection, and measured radiation levels. The Surveyor program conducted uncrewed lunar landings and takeoffs, as well as taking surface and regolith observations. Despite
5390-402: The various projects, mission architectures and associated timelines relevant to lunar and Mars exploration and science. Herbert Friedman Herbert Friedman (June 21, 1916 – September 9, 2000) was an American physicist and astronomer who did research in X-ray astronomy . During his career Friedman published hundreds of scientific papers. One such example is "Ultraviolet and X Rays from
5467-399: Was Venus , sharing many similar characteristics to Earth. First visited by American Mariner 2 spacecraft, Venus was observed to be a hot and inhospitable planet. Follow-on missions included the Pioneer Venus project in the 1970s and Magellan , which performed radar mapping of Venus' surface in the 1980s and 1990s. Future missions were flybys of Venus, on their way to other destinations in
5544-434: Was a joint NASA–U.S. Air Force program, with the hypersonic test aircraft becoming the first non-dedicated spacecraft to cross from the atmosphere to outer space. The X-15 also served as a testbed for Apollo program technologies, as well as ramjet and scramjet propulsion. Escalations in the Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union prompted President John F. Kennedy to charge NASA with landing an American on
5621-663: Was able to previously accomplish. NASA launched its first commercial satellites on the STS-5 mission and in 1984, the STS-41-C mission conducted the world's first on-orbit satellite servicing mission when the Challenger captured and repaired the malfunctioning Solar Maximum Mission satellite. It also had the capability to return malfunctioning satellite to Earth, like it did with the Palapa B2 and Westar 6 satellites. Once returned to Earth,
5698-467: Was also a concern with sharing sensitive space technologies with the Europeans, which had the potential to dilute America's technical lead. Ultimately, an international agreement to develop the Space Station Freedom program would be signed with thirteen countries in 1985, including the European Space Agency member states, Canada , and Japan . Despite its status as the first international space program,
5775-1379: Was awarded the medal for his contributions to the Space Navigation and the Apollo Lunar Landing Program. 1968 – G. Mervin Ault 1969 – Charles Berry, William F. Brown, Thomas Canning, Moustafa Chahine, Hong-Yee Chiu , Clarence Cone, James Downey, Erwin Fehlberg, Richard Green, Rudolf Hanel, Webb Haymaker, Gerhard B. Heller , Harvey Hubbard, James Humphreys, Mark Kelly, James Kupperian, Dale Lumb, Wolfgang Moeckel, Paul Muller, Robert Naumann, William O'Bryant, George Pieper, Henry Plotkin, Joseph Randall, Donald Rea, Nancy Roman , Lee Scherer, William Sjorgen, Charles Sonett, Robert Stone, David Wark, Richard Whitcomb, Donald Wise 1970 – William Angele, James R. Arnold , Paul Coleman, Leverett Davis, Milner Eskew, Herbert Friedman, Paul Gast, Peter Macdoran, Warren Martin, Maurice Morin, Marcia Neugebauer, Edward Perkins, Edward Smith, Conway Snyder, Nelson Spencer, Patrick Thaddeus, Robert Walker, Gerald Wasserburg 1971 – John C. Freche 1972 – Robert Steinbacher, Thomas C. Duxbury, Charles H. Acton, George Robert Carruthers 1973 – William A. Fischer, Founder & Sr. Scientist, EROS Space Program; Recipient of
5852-679: Was established by NASA on September 15, 1961, when the original ESM was divided into three separate awards. Under its guidelines, the ESAM is awarded for unusually significant scientific contribution toward achievement of aeronautical or space exploration goals. This award may be given for individual efforts that have resulted in a contribution of fundamental importance in this field, or have significantly enhanced understanding of this field. Recipients (incomplete list) [ edit ] 1962 – Robert E. Bourdeau 1963 – John Houbolt 1965 – Jack N. James 1966 – Richard Franz Joseph Arenstorf (He
5929-492: Was launched in 1990 on STS-31 from the Discovery and could view galaxies 15 billion light years away. A major defect in the telescope's mirror could have crippled the program, had NASA not used computer enhancement to compensate for the imperfection and launched five Space Shuttle servicing flights to replace the damaged components. The Compton Gamma Ray Observatory was launched from the Atlantis on STS-37 in 1991, discovering
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