NASA Honors awards medal - Exceptional Service

NASA Honor Awards and Presidential Rank Awards: Exceptional Service Medal to John J. Adams.

On March 28, 2024 NASA held its 2023 Administrator’s Agency Honor Awards at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. Donya Douglas-Bradshaw from Goddard Space Flight Center was recognized for exceptional leadership, engineering and programmatic expertise, and project execution for several of NASA's highest profile missions and organizations. She received the Distinguished Service Medal. Associate Administrator, James Free and Deputy Associate Administrator Casey Swails present the award to Mrs. Douglas-Bradshaw. This celebratory event recognized the invaluable contributions of civil servants and contractors alike, each one instrumental in propelling humanity further into the realms of space exploration, understanding, and discoverThis is NASA's highest form of recognition that is awarded to any Government employee who, by distinguished service, ability, or vision has personally contributed to NASA's advancement of United States' interests.

On March 28, 2024 NASA held its 2023 Administrator’s Agency Honor Awards at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. Donya Douglas-Bradshaw from Goddard Space Flight Center was recognized for exceptional leadership, engineering and programmatic expertise, and project execution for several of NASA's highest profile missions and organizations. She received the Distinguished Service Medal. This celebratory event recognized the invaluable contributions of civil servants and contractors alike, each one instrumental in propelling humanity further into the realms of space exploration, understanding, and discoverThis is NASA's highest form of recognition that is awarded to any Government employee who, by distinguished service, ability, or vision has personally contributed to NASA's advancement of United States' interests. Photo Credit: (NASA/Sara Lowthian-Hanna)

On March 28, 2024 NASA held its 2023 Administrator’s Agency Honor Awards at the Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, OH. Donya Douglas-Bradshaw from Goddard Space Flight Center was recognized for exceptional leadership, engineering and programmatic expertise, and project execution for several of NASA's highest profile missions and organizations. She received the Distinguished Service Medal. This celebratory event recognized the invaluable contributions of civil servants and contractors alike, each one instrumental in propelling humanity further into the realms of space exploration, understanding, and discoverThis is NASA's highest form of recognition that is awarded to any Government employee who, by distinguished service, ability, or vision has personally contributed to NASA's advancement of United States' interests.

After four decades of contribution to America's space program, George Hopson, manager of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project at Marshall Space Flight Center, accepted NASA's Distinguished Service Medal. Awarded to those who, by distinguished ability or courage, have made a personal contribution to the NASA mission, NASA's Distinguished Service Medal is the highest honor NASA confers. Hopson's contributions to America's space program include work on the country's first space station, Skylab; the world's first reusable space vehicle, the Space Shuttle; and the International Space Station. Hopson joined NASA's Marshall team as chief of the Fluid and Thermal Systems Branch in the Propulsion Division in 1962, and later served as chief of the Engineering Analysis Division of the Structures and Propulsion Laboratory. In 1979, he was named director of Marshall's Systems Dynamics Laboratory. In 1981, he was chosen to head the Center's Systems Analysis and Integration. Seven years later, in 1988, Hopson was appointed associate director for Space Transportation Systems and one year later became the manager of the Space Station Projects Office at Marshall. In 1994, Hopson was selected as deputy director for Space Systems in the Science and Engineering Directorate at Marshall where he supervised the Chief Engineering Offices of both marned and unmanned space systems. He was named manager of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project in 1997. In addition to the Distinguished Service Medal, Hopson has also been recognized with the NASA Outstanding Leadership Medal and NASA's Exceptional Service Medal.

A Vought F-8A Crusader was selected by NASA as the testbed aircraft (designated TF-8A) to install an experimental Supercritical Wing (SCW) in place of the conventional wing. The unique design of the Supercritical Wing reduces the effect of shock waves on the upper surface near Mach 1, which in turn reduces drag. In this photograph the TF-8A Crusader with Supercritical Wing is shown on the ramp with project pilot Tom McMurtry standing beside it. McMurtry received NASA's Exceptional Service Medal for his work on the F-8 SCW aircraft. He also flew the AD-1, F-15 Digital Electronic Engine Control, the KC-130 winglets, the F-8 Digital Fly-By-Wire and other flight research aircraft including the remotely piloted 720 Controlled Impact Demonstration and sub-scale F-15 research projects. In addition, McMurtry was the 747 co-pilot for the Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests and made the last glide flight in the X-24B. McMurtry was Dryden’s Director for Flight Operations from 1986 to 1998, when he became Associate Director for Operations at NASA Dryden. In 1982, McMurtry received the Iven C. Kincheloe Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots for his contributions as project pilot on the AD-1 Oblique Wing program. In 1998 he was named as one of the honorees at the Lancaster, Calif., ninth Aerospace Walk of Honor ceremonies. In 1999 he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. He retired in 1999 after a distinguished career as pilot and manager at Dryden that began in 1967.