Lifetime Achievement Award

About the Award

The National Space Club Florida Committee each year recognizes one to three people for life-long achievement and contributions to the U.S. space program. Nominees come from government, military, commercial or government contractor organizations. They may be retired or currently employed in continuous service for a substantial period.

Criteria for Selection

  1. Must be a long-term contributor to our nation's space program, either from the Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
  2. Must have been in civil service or served with a contractor in operations associated with launch vehicles, spacecraft, ground systems, the Eastern Range or related activity.
  3. Must be retired from active involvement in the aerospace industry or currently employed in continuous service for a substantial period.
  4. Be a Brevard County resident.


Past Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients

1992 Bob Gray and Walt Kapryan
Both Gray and Kapryan were associated with NASA. Gray was a long-time director of Expendable Launch Vehicle operations. Kapryan was an Apollo launch director.

1993 Ike Rigell
Rigell was associated with NASA and USBI and was best known for being a chief engineer working on Apollo-Saturn.

1994 Al Martin and Harry Kolcum
Martin was associated with Rockwell working on the second stage of the Saturn 5 rocket and was later Shuttle Chief Engineer. Kolcum was associated with Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine and was a respected aerospace writer.

1995 Paul Donnelly and Buck Buchanan
Donnelly was associated with NASA and USBI serving as a launch director. Buchanan was associated with NASA and is best known for managing the construction of Launch Complex 39.

1996 No Award Was Given

1997 George English, Merritt Preston and Peter Hoffman-Heyden
English was with NASA and served as senior executive to six KSC Center Directors. Preston, also with NASA, ran the Manned Spaceflight Program at KSC. Hoffman-Heyden was with RCA and is considered a Radar and Range Systems pioneer.

1998 Tom O'Malley and Pat Yount
O'Malley was with General Dynamics and Rockwell, serving as a senior executive from Project Mercury through to the Space Shuttle. Yount was with Chrysler, managing launch operations for the Redstone, Saturn 1 and Saturn 1B rockets.

1999 Norm Carlson and Cal Fowler
Carlson was a launch operations manager for NASA's manned programs, while Fowler was with General Dynamics and General Electric, working in management on vehicles ranging from Atlas to the Shuttle.

2000 Andy Pickett and George Skurla
Picket was a senior NASA manager working in launch operations, while Skurla was with Grumman managing the effort to build the Apollo Lunar Module. He later became Grumman's CEO.

2001 Russell Barnes, Horace Lamberth and Maj. Gen. Jimmey Morrell
Barnes was associated with Pan Am as a senior executive working on the Eastern Range for 47 years. Lamberth was with NASA and Lockheed working in shuttle engineering. Morrell was with the Air Force working on military space programs and was the first commander of the 45th Space Wing.

2002 Silas "Sy" Baker, John Tribe and Tom Utsman
Baker was a 38-year veteran of Atlas launch operations at Cape Canaveral. John Tribe was chief engineer of launch support services working on the Space Shuttle program at KSC. Utsman was a 34-year veteran NASA manager, working here at KSC and in Washington.


 

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