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Ten exemplary Goddard team members earned the prestigious Space Flight The Honoree Award Awareness Honoree Award, participating in the STS-130 Honoree Event.

The SFA Honoree Award under On Monday, February 22, 2010, Goddard Honoree Award recipients were the Space Flight Awareness recognized at the NASA Goddard Greenbelt campus: program is presented to civil servant and contract employees Gary A. Burkholder for their dedication to quality Earl H. Daniel work and flight safety. To Gregory J. Goulet qualify, the individuals must John D. Kazeva have contributed beyond their Kenneth McCaughey normal work requirements to Eric S. Mount achieve significant impact on Yi-Pheng Ngan attaining a particular human Chitra Patel spaceflight program goal; Sue E. Pollard contributed to a major cost Claude A. Sanders savings; been instrumental in Edward L. Shade developing modification to L. Colleen Townsley hardware, software, or materials Janelle L. Vreeland that increase reliability, The remaining honoree will be honored during a future awards ceremony at the efficiency, or performance; Wallops Flight Facility. assisted in operational improvements; or been a key Deborah Dukes player in developing a beneficial process improvement. Gary Burkholder Recipients of the Honoree Award have the opportunity to travel to Gary Burkholder, the Ground System Manager for the Hubble Space Telescope Florida to celebrate their program, designed, established, and maintained the communications achievements during a tour of infrastructure that contributed significantly to the success of Hubble Servicing Kennedy Space Center and Mission 4. Burkholder prepared the hardware, software, video, and audio viewing of a space shuttle requirements of at least eighteen rooms at Goddard and the Johnson Space launch. Center. During the mission, he managed senior management video-conferences, facilitated technical support for over 125 Johnson Space Center Hubble users, enabled mission video coordination with Houston TV, and more. Because of Gary Burkholder’s efforts, the Hubble Space Team and its supporters at Johnson, Goddard, and NASA HQ were able to communicate effortlessly during Hubble Servicing Mission 4.

Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Gary A. Burkholder. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Earl Daniel

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Earl Daniel has provided exceptional documentation support of NASA’s human spaceflight programs for over 42 years. As Human Space Flight Documentation Manager, he develops, updates, and guarantees all Human Space Flight documentation is distributed to the Integrated Networks elements for mission support. Not only was he instrumental in support of Return to Flight, but he also tracks critical documentation for space shuttle, international space station, visiting vehicles such as Soyuz, and many other programs.

Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain, Earl Daniel. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Gregory Goulet

Gregory Goulet is recognized for outstanding contributions and support in numerous aspects of the Flight Operations and Systems Engineering preparation and execution of all five Hubble Space Telescope servicing missions. For Hubble Servicing Mission 4, he planned and managed the tasks and integrated schedules of more than 60 multiple-discipline system engineers, testers, and system management personnel supporting daily Hubble Operations, and the servicing mission. He was the direct interface between the Goddard project and the various subcontractor teams supporting the mission. He was instrumental in training personnel and developing operational improvements that increased the reliability and performance required for mission success.

Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Gregory Goulet. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

John Kazeva

John Kazeva receives recognition for his unwavering commitment to the success of the International Space Station ExPRESS Logistics Carrier development effort at Goddard. John is a seasoned spaceflight hardware systems engineer with decades of experience; his “above and beyond the call of duty” efforts to produce key mission deliverable products enabled NASA’s on-schedule delivery of the first two ExPRESS Logistics Carriers to the International Space Station on STS-129. John has become a cornerstone of support and source of technical expertise to NASA’s ExPRESS Logistics Carriers Project, and is identified as part of the core sustaining engineering team that will follow carriers through the follow-on launches and on-orbit mission.

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Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and John Kazeva. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Kenneth McCaughey

Kenneth McCaughey, a civil servant, has made a positive impact on NASA’s Human Spaceflight programs. As Attitude Control System Hardware Lead for the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, he made significant contributions to a number of the orbiter’s components, such as designing the circuitry for the Inhibit Unit, which safely prohibited thrusters and transmitters from accidentally operating during Integration and Test or while attached to the launch vehicle. His expertise and knowledge have undoubtedly contributed to the success of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Through his dedication to his projects on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, Ken is making history by ensuring the collection of necessary data to locate the optimal location of the first permanent presence of humans on the Moon.

Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Kenneth McCaughey. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Eric Mount

Eric Mount is the Alternate Facility Operations Manager for Building 13 and Site Manager for the Network Integration Center at Goddard. A supporter of the space program for over 25 years, he has provided invaluable service to many different entities throughout his tenure. In his current role, Eric is instrumental in keeping the Control Center ready to provide support to missions. During Hubble Servicing Mission 4, he was responsible for maintaining services in the Networking Integration Center, providing noteworthy service for key Hubble personnel. He ensured console and display configuration, special mission badging, and escorting of personnel. His exceptional behind-the-scene efforts enabled the seamless operation of the critical Network Integration Center.

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Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Eric Mount. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Yi-Pheng Ngan

Yi-Pheng Ngan remotely supports the Constellation Program based at the Johnson Space Center. Nominated for his role in the development and procurement of the Radio Frequency transponder for the Orion spacecraft and for his significant role in achieving a successful Preliminary Design Review for the Transponder in October 2009. With his extensive experience and knowledge of transponders, he was a critical member of the development team and resolved significant technical issues associated with the development of a unique, distinct transponder. He was instrumental to the successful development of an innovated design solution. He played a major role in helping the Orion Project reach a successful Preliminary Design Review, a critical milestone in NASA’s effort to close the gap in human spaceflight between Shuttle and Orion.

Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Yi-Pheng Ngan. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Chitra Patel

Chitra Patel has supported NASA’s human spaceflight programs for over 10 years by developing and implementing analysis and simulation models and tools that have assessed the communications performance of current and future space and group systems. Chitra has achieved mastery of the complex issues involved in space communications, specializing in modulation, coding, and transmitter and receiver requirements, as well as independent assessment of design and implementation. These software models and tools have been applied to analyzing the performance of existing and new human spaceflight programs. Chitra Patel’s dedication to providing the highest quality analysis and support to ensure the performance of human spaceflight systems has ensured the continued reliability of NASA’s human spaceflight systems.

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Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Chitra Patel. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Sue Pollard

Sue Pollard identified a potential catastrophic hazard on the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier program that could have led to the carrier’s deck being jammed in the STS Orbiter payload bay. After discovering the issue, Pollard documented her concern and worked with the project designers, testers, and management, as well as a Johnson Space Center independent safety panel for almost two years to characterize the risk associated with this hazard as well as to establish design and operational solutions. She proactively raised this safety concern early in the design process and worked long hours to gain concurrence on the issue and in establishing a solution. Sue Pollard is commended for her commitment to realizing resolution on the ExPRESS Logistics Carrier.

Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Sue Pollard. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Tod Rosenthal

Tod Rosenthal has been with the Orbital Sciences Corporation’s Technical Services Division for the past 11 years as part of the Space Support Equipment Team supporting the Hubble Space Telescope Development Office. He has supported three Hubble servicing missions. During Hubble Servicing Mission 4, he was responsible for the final verification and flight preparedness of the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier. He maintained its flight readiness, final checkout verification and validation of items after the missions stand-down, supported during the mission at Goddard, and was part of the post-mission deintegration operations at Kennedy and Godard and final Hubble hardware decommissioning operations. Tod Rosenthal has established himself as a valuable and versatile asset within the Hubble Space Telescope Team.

Claude Al Sanders

As a Quality Assurance Engineer for the Hubble Space Telescope Project, Claude Al Sanders was responsible for Quality Assurance oversight of the Flight Support System. In his role, he did not simply monitor all operations related to the system, but he also actively participated, led discussions, and worked with intense initiative. The operations he reviewed were everything from inspecting

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printed wiring boards to participating on console during the system’s thermal vacuum test. He learned as much as possible about each component in order to understand the full impact of the hardware, to ensure the safety of the orbiter and astronaut crew. Because of Claude Al Sanders’ extraordinary dedication, the highest level of quality was achieved for the Flight Support System.

Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Al Sanders. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Edward Shade

Ed Shade has provided eleven years of sustained outstanding service to the Hubble Space Telescope Development project. The Systems Lead on the Cosmic Origins Spectograph, Ed successfully coordinated the completion of the instrument level verification program and supported the launch operations flow for the instrument at the Kennedy Space Center. He also provided support in the instrument operations during Hubble Servicing Mission 4. Ed Shade has consistently risen to the task at hand as a systems engineer and because of his leadership, dedication, and expertise, he has played a major role in the success of the Hubble Servicing Missions since 1998.

Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Ed Shade. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Colleen Townsley

Colleen Townsley was responsible for all of the Flight System Software development and test facilities and tools required to build and validate all of the Flight System Software team’s deliveries. Townsley kept all of the systems serviced so that downtime was minimized. She responded to dozens of problem reports, tracking them to closure. Without Colleen Townsley’s constant and immediate attention to the Flight System Software lab, the timely deliveries for the Hubble Servicing Mission 4 instruments would not have been possible.

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Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Colleen Townsley. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Janelle Vreeland

When the A side of Hubble’s Science Data Formatter on the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling system failed, Janelle Vreeland provided crucial elements of the Hubble 486 flight software and tool development for Servicing Mission 4. She designed and implemented the Servicing Mission modifications to the flight software safe-mode responses. In addition, she designed and implemented the conversion tool that takes existing loads destined for the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling computer and translated them into a recognizable format for the Hubble 486 computer. The increase in efficiency helped ensure continued operations of Hubble and reduced potential EVA time during Hubble Servicing Mission 4.

Image above: Image above: Click the image to view its high-resolution copy. From the left are Rob Strain and Janelle Vreeland. Image credit: NASA, Pat Izzo.

Congratulations to the Space Flight Awareness Honoree Award recipients.

For additional information on the Space Flight Awareness (SFA) program, contact Goddard's SFA Panel Member, Amy Pruett.

Content Manager: Amy Pruett Responsible NASA Official: Kris Brown Contact Inside Goddard Privacy Policy and Important Notices

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