Mr. Frank Bauer

Mr. Terry AbelMr. Abel demonstrated exceptional dedication to the education of young professionals for the past 33 years as part of Lockheed Martin Space Systems. As Manager and Technical Liaison to the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), he excelled in educational outreach and has served a key role in developing, promoting, and sponsoring the national Human Exploration Rover Challenge and MSFC’s Internship Initiative. Mr. Abel is the liaison to MSFC for the Human Exploration Rover Challenge, which over 24 years has engaged more than 10,000 students, creating human mobility devices to traverse simulated surfaces of other worlds. Additionally, the National Space Club (NSC) appointed him Vice Chair for Education, and he led the group to sponsor and organize events and scholarships that impacted 26,000 students over the past 9 years.

In 2011, Mr. Bauer retired from NASA after completing a 30-year career, but he never stopped supporting NASA in Global Positioning System (GPS) technology and policy. He represented NASA and the United States (U.S.) at five international meetings in the last 5 years, several under the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space, where world space policy is agreed to. Through his contributions, NASA and the U.S.’ interests were maintained. Mr. Bauer also negotiated with the U.S. Air Force (USAF), owners of the U.S. GPS system, to use laser retroreflectors on the next generation of GPS satellites, enhancing GPS satellites to serve users on Earth and in space, and contributed to the GPS Space Service Volume being adopted by the USAF. Without Mr. Bauer’s work, the U.S. would not have the GPS capabilities or reputation it does in the world navigation community.

Mr. Edward Devine (Awarded Posthumously)

Dr. Eric De JongDr. De Jong is a pioneer in rapid development of visualization products and imaging processing for scientific investigation and public outreach. In his 40-year career, he played an enormous role in society’s appreciation of NASA’s work and created vivid experiences for the public and the scientific community. As Principal Investigator for NASA’s Solar System Visualization Project, Dr. De Jong leads a team to create new science visualization products by developing software for high-speed computers to generate animations for public release and mission planning. He pioneered the use of stereo HDTV, IMAX, and digital cinema technology for the visualization of planetary surfaces and atmospheres and created planetary image and animation sequences for seven IMAX films. His work is used on television and in museums around the world, bringing the NASA experience directly to the public.

Mr. Devine (deceased January 15, 2015) devoted his entire life to the development of spaceflight mechanical systems, training young engineers, and advancing the state of the art within his discipline, which is critical to meeting the objectives of NASA and the greater scientific and engineering communities. He was a founding father of the mechanical systems discipline at Goddard Space Flight Center. Projects he supported include the Cosmic Background Explorer, Hubble Space Telescope, and manned flight and satellite servicing missions. After retiring from civil service, he led the mechanism group at Swales Aerospace and continued to train NASA and contractor mechanism and opto-mechanical engineers. He also supported mechanisms and instrument developments, the NASA Engineering & Safety Center (NESC) Mechanical Systems Technical Discipline Team, and four critical NESC Assessments.

Mr. Michael Dorsch

Dr. Alan Hargens

Mr. Dorsch serves as Chief Engineer for the Orbital ATK development of a new commercial launch capability to resupply critical cargo and supplies for the International Space Station (ISS). As Chief Engineer for the Antares launch vehicle, he demonstrated exceptional leadership and ingenuity and was critical in creating a new medium-lift rocket line for the ISS to provide cargo resupply services. He led the first Antares configuration and its upgraded version to meet growing ISS requirements, and later, led a diverse team from the United States, Russia, and Ukraine through several design iterations of the Stage 1 Core to Engine interface and eventual integration of new engines into the Antares launch vehicle. His work will allow NASA to have three options to support cargo services to the ISS, offering better reliability and failure tolerance.

For over 30 years, Dr. Hargens, Professor of Orthopedics at University of California, San Diego, demonstrated exceptional leadership in the study of spaceflight-induced adaptations of the cardiovascular and musculoskeletal systems. He developed innovative research approaches and served as Principal Investigator on a series of bed rest experiments investigating chronic unloading on cardiovascular, muscle, bone, and spinal health, using an innovative research strategy with identical twins. Collaborating with scientists across the globe, Dr. Hargens serves as co-investigator for the most complex human physiological experiment ever undertaken on the International Space Station, “Fluid Shifts,” and is a co-investigator on the Twins study. His work has directly contributed to human space exploration with resulting research spinoffs that inform the medical community at large.

Dr. Roger Launius

Mr. Kauser ImtiazMr. Imtiaz is a multidisciplined expert in structural engineering and has been an invaluable asset to the International Space Station (ISS) for more than 24 years. He was the first engineer sought out by NASA to tackle emerging structural anomalies and single-handedly drove the highly complex Common Berthing Mechanism into a sophisticated system. In 2000, he took charge of the entire ISS structure and led teams to complete assembly by 2012. He wrote a remarkable software program to streamline joint analyses across the ISS that continues to benefit the ISS, is an authority on Fracture Mechanics, and one of a handful of experts on Composite Overwrap Pressure Vessels in the aerospace industry. He holds the unique distinction of being the only structural engineer with critical analytical contributions to every United States and International component of the largest structure in space.

Dr. Launius served as NASA’s Chief Historian from 1990 through 2002, revolutionizing NASA’s History Program. He dramatically expanded the output of published works, established the NASA History Web site as the preeminent source of data regarding NASA’s history, and most historical NASA data available online can be directly traced to his work. He produced editorials, journal articles, internal policy, analytical works for NASA decision makers, and NASA history volumes. Since 2002, Dr. Launius worked as a researcher and author, producing over a dozen books—four written for the NASA History series at no cost. He played a major role in the national Centennial of Flight celebrations in 2003, served as a historical consultant to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and was essential in NASA’s centennial celebration of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics in 2015.

Mr. Edward Nace

Dr. Christopher Russell

Over Mr. Nace’s 47-year career, he has made lasting contributions in the area of mission operations. He has implemented ground system automation that led to a widespread adoption of systems and processes which resulted in significant efficiencies gained in mission operations costs. Later, he was recruited to be a key advisor to the Hubble Mission Operations project team and worked with NASA to successfully reduce the International Solar Terrestrial Physics mission ground systems costs by 70 percent. As Ground Systems and Mission Operations contract Project Manager, he leads all contractor operations teams within the Space Science Mission Operations project and has overseen a remarkable era of increasing ground system autonomy and exceptional operations performance, achieving significant gains in efficiency and productivity while minimizing operational errors.

Dr. Russell, Professor at University of California, Los Angeles, and Dawn Principal Investigator, significantly contributed to NASA during his 50-year career through his instruments and analyses characterizing magnetospheres of Earth and other planets. He contributed to the investigations that discovered anomalous conductivity consistent with a subsurface ocean on Europa, detected an internal magnetic field at Ganymede, and documented plume activity on Enceladus. He made a groundbreaking discovery of the patchy reconnection process that causes flux transfer events on the magnetopause, which has spawned new generations of missions and is the basis for work on reconnection in space plasmas. He has delivered unique data from Vesta and Ceres, including discoveries of clays, carbonates, and recent geologic activity at Ceres that have stimulated new ideas about ocean world evolution.

Mr. John Sterritt

Mr. John SalisburyMr. Salisbury has made significant contributions to NASA for the past 27 years that include microgravity projects, environment control and life support systems, and the Ares and Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicles. His contributions as a tooling engineer on the SLS Program in implementing the unique major tools required to build the core stage extend to his support of the tooling operations and assistance in resolving complex problems. He transformed the Ares tooling for use on the SLS core stage and is responsible for the Vertical Assembly Center (VAC), vertical weld center, robotic weld tools, segmented ring tools, and the dome rounding break over tool, and transitioned them to SLS. Following VAC installation, a significant issue was identified, and Mr. Salisbury led the recovery effort by setting clear plans and working tirelessly to enable production to be underway now.

Early in his career, Mr. Sterritt became the authority of Main Propulsion System (MPS) and cryogenic propulsion. He was instrumental in the resolution of anomalies, cryogenic loading, and MPS launch operations, and supported an unprecedented 124 of 135 Space Shuttle Program (SSP) missions. After the SSP completion, Mr. Sterritt joined the Test Operations Support Contract team, where he applied his cryogenic propulsion knowledge to develop ground and flight systems in support of the Space Launch System Core Stage and Upper Stage booster configurations. He was critical in the assignment of MPS measurements to various data streams and to developing the Wet Dress Rehearsal test plan and defining required test operations to ensure cryogenic systems perform as needed in a launch environment. His mark on America’s Space Program is profound and still growing.

Dr. Forman Williams

Ms. Roberta Wyrick

Professor (emeritus) Williams of the University of California at San Diego is receiving this award in recognition of his exemplary contributions to NASA in the field of microgravity combustion science. His work with NASA spans over 40 years, beginning with his pioneering use of space-based microgravity facilities to study fundamental combustion problems in the absence of gravitational forces while helping to build the international microgravity community. He was the Principal Investigator on combustion experiments that have successfully flown on the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station and has mentored countless students, engineers and scientists. He recently discovered a new mode of low-temperature droplet burning which has created a new method to study low temperature chemical kinetics and provided tangible evidence of the significance of ISS combustion research.

Ms. Wyrick’s exemplary efforts span multiple decades and numerous programs, from pioneering the development of the Ground Launch Sequencer, critical software used for 30 years until the Space Shuttle Program was completed, to serving as Launch Orbiter Test Conductor (OTC) for an unprecedented 16 missions. She was OTC for the final Space Shuttle flight, and then accepted a position on the Test Operations Support Contract, supporting Ground Systems Development and Operations (GSDO) on integrated test and launch planning. Ms. Wyrick applied her extensive Shuttle program experience to the Space Launch System/Orion/GSDO launch planning and was instrumental in laying out the Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) launch countdown operations, co-establishing the foundation for EM-1 launch philosophy, schedules, and procedures. Her mark on America’s space program truly is indelible.