Rep. Ken Calvert - Chairman, House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee
The Federal Leadership Award is being presented to Congressman Ken Calvert, a native of California. Congressman Calvert was selected Chairman of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, which authorizes funding and establishes policy for NASA, in February 2005. In less than 10 months, he has demonstrated great passion for, and dedication to, civil space through his leadership as Chairman of that Subcommittee.
Chairman Calvert boldly stated at a CSA luncheon in March 2005, that passage of a NASA Authorization Bill in 2005 was his highest priority despite the fact that there had not been a NASA Authorization Bill passed in five years. The Chairman introduced the NASA Authorization Bill (H.R. 3070) this year on June 27and it was passed by the House of Representatives less than a month later. The Senate passed a similar bill (S. 1281) on September 28 and a conference on the House and Senate versions of the bill is expected to be completed soon. Chairman Calvert also demonstrated his leadership this year through his introduction and successful passage of a resolution that honored the crew of the space shuttle Discovery mission STS-114.
California Governor's Council on Base Support and Retention
A State Leadership Award is being presented to the California Governor's Council on Base Support and Retention in order to highlight the state's significant contributions to the nation's military mission and to minimize the effect of the Department of Defense's Base Realignment and Closure process. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger created this Council, which was led by Leon Panetta and Donna Tuttle. The Council was comprised of 19 members, including the Honorable Andrea Seastrand, Executive Director of CSA.
The Council held public hearings throughout the State and worked with community based organizations to gather information in support of retaining military assets in California. These activities culminated in the Council's Report, which effectively expressed that military assets in California are important to the transformation of the nation's military forces. Through the dedication of this Council as well as the work of others, no major bases in California were closed and many California bases gained personnel and missions.
Assemblyman Mike Gordon (Posthumously)
A State Leadership Award is being presented posthumously to Assemblyman Mike Gordon, formerly of El Segundo, California. Gordon was a man who demonstrated passion -- for his family, his friends, his state and his nation in his efforts to save Los Angeles Air Force Base. In the face of dedicated efforts to move the Base to another state, Mike Gordon - first as the Mayor of El Segundo and then as a State Assemblyman -- worked tirelessly to find a way to keep Los Angeles Air Force Base in Los Angeles County. He brought together disparate elements that together created the Systems Acquisition Management Support (SAMS) redevelopment project, which replaced outdated buildings on three sites with state-of-the-art buildings on a single site. It is the SAMS project, which has been credited in large part for helping to retain Los Angeles Air Force Base.
Mike Gordon demonstrated his passion within the State Assembly in other ways as well. Within two months of establishing an office in Sacramento, Assemblyman Gordon introduced 22 legislative measures affecting a wide swath of issue areas. During his tenure in the California Assembly, Gordon was recognized for his leadership and was appointed to Chair the Committee on Veterans Affairs and to serve as the Assembly's representative to the Hoover Commission. Assemblyman Mike Gordon died on June 25, 2005.
Los Angeles Air Force Base Regional Alliance
The Los Angeles Air Force Base Regional Alliance is a broad coalition of leaders from business as well as local governments that focused upon the important mission of retaining Los Angeles Air Force Base. The Alliance, led by John Parsons, Joe Aro and Jerry Say, worked diligently to amass more than $1 million necessary for that effort.
The community based organization spent both time and money to educate the public and public officials about the economic impact of Los Angeles Air Force Base upon the County of Los Angeles -- an estimated $3.3 billion each year. The organization spent additional time and resources to educate the Pentagon about the existing trained workforce and intellectual capital that contribute significantly to the success of Los Angeles Air Force Base and does not exist elsewhere. The Alliance was successful and it is through that group's efforts, combined with the efforts of Assemblyman Mike Gordon and the Governor's Council on Base Support and Retention that Los Angeles Air Force Base will remain in Los Angeles County.
Chabot Space and Science Center (Education)
The Buzz Aldrin Space Education and Workforce Award is being presented to the Chabot Space and Science Center of Oakland, California, because it provides K-12 outreach programs, teacher professional development programs, and public programs to more than 50,000 students, 2,000 teachers and 200,000 public visitors each year. Through its innovative programs, the Center provides high quality astronomy and space science exhibits as well as edutainment.
Chabot Space and Science Center is located on a site that was initially founded as a public observatory more than 115 years ago. The Center utilizes this rich and historic legacy to inspire students to study math, science and engineering which are the necessary building blocks for the nation's future space workforce.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company (Workforce)
The Buzz Aldrin Education and Workforce Award is being presented to Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company of Sunnyvale, California, because it has created and implemented a workforce development program focused upon the hiring and training of new college graduates. In fact, the company has established a goal of hiring new graduates for at least 50 percent of their new hires. This program will create the workforce of the future and include both technical and non-technical disciplines.
The Lockheed Martin program provides an extended orientation to new college graduates and combines classroom training, networking opportunities, flexible assignments and career guidance. For high potential new graduates, the company also offers a Leadership Development Program in Engineering, Operations, Human Resources and Finance.
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
A SpotBeam Civil Space Award is being presented to NASA Dryden Flight Research Center of Edwards, California, because of its participation in the successful landing of the Space Shuttle Discovery on August 9, 2005. This landing was the completion of shuttle mission STS-114, NASA's Return to Flight. It was also the 50th landing of a space shuttle in California and the 50th opportunity for NASA Dryden Flight Research Center personnel to assist a space shuttle crew and orbiter.
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center is a key contributor to the operations and development of technologies that play a key role in the nation's space program. In addition to their support for the space shuttle program, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center contributed to the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle as well as conducted testing for the first Pegasus launches and the X-38 Crew Return Vehicle. NASA Dryden Flight Research Center will continue to contribute to the nation's space program by serving as a landing site for the Crew Exploration Vehicle.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A SpotBeam Civil Space Award is being presented to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of Pasadena, California, because of its successful and popular Deep Impact Mission. The two-part spacecraft was launched on January 12, 2005, and traveled 268 million miles before one part of the spacecraft collided as planned with asteroid Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. The second part of the spacecraft recorded the impact and sent its data to JPL Headquarters in Pasadena. The Deep Impact Mission attracted public attention both in the media and on the JPL website where more than 1 billion visitors obtained in-depth information about the spacecrafts' mission.
Also during 2005, the twin Voyager spacecrafts which were built by JPL and launched in 1977 reached the edge of interstellar space. And the JPL Rovers Spirit and Opportunity continued to operate on Mars sending back to Earth vital information about the Red Planet well beyond their expected life spans.
Vandenberg Air Force Base
The National Security Space Award is being presented to Vandenberg Air Force Base of Santa Barbara County in celebration of 45 years of mission success. Vandenberg Air Force Base is the nation's premier launch site for polar launches, which include both environmental and surveillance satellites. The year 2005 marked the end of an era at Vandenberg Air Force Base with the launch of the last Titan 4 launch vehicle by Lockheed Martin on October 19, 2005
In addition to its launch capabilities, Vandenberg Air Force Base is the nation's largest test and evaluation site. An important new mission for Vandenberg Air Force Base is providing support for the nation's Missile Defense Agency. Vandenberg Air Force Base is also the home for the launch components of both NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the National Reconnaissance Office.
Trimble Navigation, Ltd.
The Commercial Space Award is being presented to Trimble Navigation of Sunnyvale, California, in recognition of its continued excellence in the application of Global Positioning System (GPS) technology to an expanding array of industries including agriculture, construction, mining, oil and gas, and transportation. These applications, in turn, improve the lives of individuals in this nation as well as throughout the world.
For example, Trimble technology is used today by farmers for the leveling of their land, planting of their crops, fertilizing their fields, protecting their crops from disease and finally harvesting their crops. The result is a great bounty of food for our tables with minimal use of water and pesticides. Trimble technology is also used by law enforcement to increase the safety of the communities in which we live.
Quakefinder, LLC
The Space Innovation Award is being presented to Quakefinder, LLC, of Palo Alto, California, for its pioneering research in the forecasting of earthquakes with the use of space technology. Specifically, Quakefinder designed, built and launched a satellite -- QuakeSat -- in only 18 months. Data from that satellite is helping to detect changes in the earth's electromagnetic signatures, which, in turn, signal that an earthquake is imminent.
Quakefinder has incorporated educational outreach at the university level in its earthquake detection efforts. For example, the QuakeSat was developed in partnership with Stanford University's Space Systems Development Laboratory. Quakefinder has also utilized assistance from high school students who helped build ground sensors and leading edge science experiments in which the students gained hands-on experience through the analysis of ground sensor data.
Sea Launch Company, LLC
The International Space Award is being presented to Sea Launch Company, LLC, of Long Beach, California, for a decade of success as an international provider of launch services. Sea Launch is unique in at least two respects. First, it is the only launch service provider that has successfully combined the technology of four countries - the United States, Russia, Ukraine and Norway. Second, it is the only launch service provider that launches from a platform at sea.
Sea Launch was formed in 1995 and conducted its first launch on March 27, 1999. Since that time, Sea Launch has conducted 17 (out of 18) successful launches, including some of the world's heaviest commercial payloads. Sea Launch has launched all of XM Satellite Radio's spacecraft, including XM-1 and XM-2 in 2001, and XM-3 in 2005. In addition, Sea Launch has launched satellites for DirecTV, DISH television, Intelsat and Thuraya Telecommunications among others. Sea Launch's most recent launch was the Inmarsat-4 satellite on November 8, 2005.
Dr. Stephen Robinson
The California Astronaut Hall of Fame Award is presented to Dr. Stephen Robinson, who is a native of California and was educated in California, for his outstanding accomplishments during Space Shuttle Mission STS-114 which began on July 26, 2005, and was completed on August 9, 2005. During that mission, Dr. Robinson significantly reduced the danger of the space shuttle's re-entry, during an extra-vehicular activity (EVA), by removing gap fillers from the outside of the space shuttle while in flight. Also during that mission, Dr. Robinson became the first "podcaster" from space when he transmitted a podcast message describing his efforts to the public one day before landing.
Dr. Robinson is a veteran NASA astronaut who first served as a mission specialist on Shuttle Mission STS-85 in 1997 during which he flew both the shuttle robot arm and the experimental Japanese robot arm. He later served as Payload Commander on Mission STS-95 in 1998 during which he was the prime operator of the shuttle's robot arm and both deployed and retrieved the Spartan satellite. Dr. Robinson has logged more than 830 hours in space, including 20 EVA hours.
