REDONDO BEACH, Calif., March 31, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- A team of scientists and engineers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) and Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) has been awarded the National Space Club's 2003 Nelson P. Jackson Aerospace Award.
The Nelson P. Jackson award, named in honor of the founder and past president of the National Space Club, is presented annually for outstanding contributions to the missile, aircraft and space fields. The NASA/Northrop Grumman team was honored for the on-orbit success of NASA's Aqua Earth Observing System (EOS) satellite, which was launched in May 2002.
"Aqua represented one of the smoothest launch, activation and checkout periods of any flight system in Goddard's history," said Phil Sabelhaus, who served as GSFC's Aqua project manager. "This award is a tribute to the mission-first focus and hard work of the entire government and industry team."
"The Jackson Award reflects the highly successful and long-standing partnership between Northrop Grumman and NASA," said Martin Mohan, who served as Northrop Grumman's Aqua program manager. "We are delighted that Aqua is providing high quality science data to the climate research community and contributing to our understanding of the Earth's water systems."
Sabelhaus and Mohan accepted the award on behalf of the team at the annual Goddard Memorial Dinner.
Northrop Grumman designed, built and deployed Aqua for GSFC. The company is building a second EOS spacecraft named Aura, which will take measurements of the Earth's ozone, air quality and climate. Aura is scheduled for launch in 2004 from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Northrop Grumman's Space Technology sector, headquartered in Redondo Beach, Calif., is a leader in the development of space systems for remote sensing and environmental missions.
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