NASA Exceptional Service Medal
Encyclopedia
The NASA Exceptional Service Medal is an award granted to U.S. government employees for significant sustained performance characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability that clearly demonstrates substantial improvement in engineering, aeronautics, space flight, administration, support, or space-related endeavors which contribute to NASA
programs.
The medal was inherited by NASA from its predecessor organization, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) and featured the NACA emblem. The original NASA version featured the NASA seal.
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
programs.
The medal was inherited by NASA from its predecessor organization, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA) and featured the NACA emblem. The original NASA version featured the NASA seal.
Notable recipients
- Buzz AldrinBuzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin is an American mechanical engineer, retired United States Air Force pilot and astronaut who was the Lunar Module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history...
- Charles F. Bolden, Jr.Charles F. Bolden, Jr.Charles Frank "Charlie" Bolden, Jr. is the current Administrator of NASA, a retired United States Marine Corps major general, and former NASA astronaut....
(twice) - Roger B. ChaffeeRoger B. ChaffeeRoger Bruce Chaffee was an American aeronautical engineer and a NASA astronaut in the Apollo program. Chaffee died along with fellow astronauts Gus Grissom and Ed White during a pre-launch test for the Apollo 1 mission at Cape Kennedy...
(posthumously) - Kevin Chilton
- William H. DanaWilliam H. Dana-Career:Dana was born in Pasadena, California, November 3, 1930, received his Bachelor of Science degree from the U.S. Military Academy in 1952 and served four years as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force...
- John H. DisherJohn H. DisherJohn Howard Disher was an American aeronautical engineer and NASA manager.For most of his life he worked for NASA during the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle projects....
(twice, last in 1980) - Einar EnevoldsonEinar EnevoldsonEinar K. Enevoldson is the director of the Perlan Project. He was a civilian research pilot for NASA's Hugh L. Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. from 1968 until 1986...
(1974) - Fitzhugh L. FultonFitzhugh L. FultonFitzhugh L. "Fitz" Fulton Jr. is a retired civilian research pilot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, from August 1, 1966, until July 3, 1986, following 23 years of service as a pilot in the U.S...
(twice) - Gus GrissomGus GrissomVirgil Ivan Grissom , , better known as Gus Grissom, was one of the original NASA Project Mercury astronauts and a United States Air Force pilot...
- John M. GrunsfeldJohn M. GrunsfeldJohn Mace Grunsfeld is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of five spaceflights and has also served as NASA Chief Scientist.-Personal :...
(three awards) - David M. JonesDavid M. JonesDavid M. Jones was a United States Air Force pilot who served with distinction during World War II. He was one of the Doolittle Raiders whose exploits in April 1942 were dramatized in the film Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. He then flew combat missions over North Africa, where he was shot down...
- Mark Kelly
- Don Leslie Lind (1974)
- William S. McArthurWilliam S. McArthurWilliam Surles McArthur, Jr. is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, a NASA astronaut, and a veteran of three space shuttle missions and one expedition to the International Space Station via the Russian Soyuz capsule.-Army career:...
- Pamela MatsonPamela MatsonPamela Anne Matson is an American scientist, professor, and dean of the Stanford University School of Earth Sciences. She previously worked at NASA and at the University of California Berkeley. Her professional titles at Stanford are Chester Naramore Dean of the School of Earth Sciences, and...
- Arthur RudolphArthur RudolphArthur Louis Hugo Rudolph was a German rocket engineer and member of the Nazi party who played a key role in the development of the V-2 rocket. After World War II he was brought to the United States, subsequently becoming a pioneer of the United States space program. He worked for the U.S...
- Tecwyn RobertsTecwyn RobertsTecwyn Roberts was a Welsh-born, American spaceflight engineer who in the 1960s played important roles in designing the Mission Control Center at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas and creating NASA’s worldwide tracking and communications network...
(1969) - Richard H. TrulyRichard H. TrulyRichard Harrison Truly is a retired Vice Admiral in the United States Navy, Naval Aviator, former astronaut, and was the eighth Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from 1989 to 1992...
(two awards) - Peggy WhitsonPeggy WhitsonPeggy Annette Whitson is an American biochemistry researcher, NASA astronaut, and NASA's Chief Astronaut. Her first space mission was in 2002, with an extended stay aboard the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 5. Her second mission launched October 10, 2007, as the first female...
- John W. Young (1956 and 1966)
- Jimmy Compton