Space Foundation acquires historic space artifacts for display

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (Jan. 31, 2007) — Today the Space Foundation announced the acquisition of several historic space artifacts. The artifacts are to be added to the General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award. The highest honor bestowed by the Space Foundation, the Hill Award recognizes individuals who have fundamentally altered the course of history through their lifetime contributions to the exploration, development and use of space.

The 2007 General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award winner is Dr. Simon “Si” Ramo, a co-founder of TRW (now Northrop Grumman Corporation) and acknowledged “father” of numerous U.S. national space systems. The Hill Award is a stunning, seven-foot-tall glass sculpture created by Carmel, Calif., artists Joy Day and B.E. Johnson. The sculpture is a living piece of space history, with numerous artifacts already embedded within its composition, and the names of the award recipients etched into the sculpture. It is on permanent display in the lobby at the Space Foundation’s headquarters in Colorado Springs. Hill Award honorees receive smaller, individual glass sculptures.

Newly acquired artifacts that will become part of the General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award are:

• Three pieces of the heat shield of the Mercury spaceship Faith 7, which flew in space May 15-16, 1963, under the command of astronaut Gordon Cooper.
• A medallion, flown in space, comprised in part of metals from the Apollo 8 spacecraft which from Dec. 21-27, 1968, carried astronauts Jim Lovell, Frank Borman and Bill Anders on the first journey by human beings around the Moon.
• A medallion, flown in space, comprised in part of metals taken from the Columbia command module and Eagle lunar lander of Apollo 11 which carried astronauts Mike Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, culminating in the first landing of humans on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
• A medallion, flown in space, commemorating the first mission of the space shuttle (STS-1), bearing the engraved signatures of crew members John Young and Bob Crippen and containing metals from that space shuttle, the Columbia.

Artifacts already included in the Hill Award sculpture include a piece of space shuttle tile from space shuttle mission STS-95 (John Glenn’s return to flight), flown MultiLayer Insulation (MLI) shielding, Moon dust, a piece of the launch gantry from the Explorer 1 launch, aerogel used in the Stardust spacecraft, and an Apollo 11 mission flag that was carried to the surface of the Moon.The 2007 General James E. Hill Lifetime Space Achievement Award will be presented at a special luncheon honoring Dr. Ramo. The luncheon, co-sponsored by The Boeing Company, will take place Wednesday, April 11 as part of the 23rd National Space Symposium at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. Previous winners have included astronauts Dr. Buzz Aldrin and Captain James Lovell, USN (Retired), Lockheed Martin chairman emeritus Norman R. Augustine, former Under Secretary of Defense E.C. “Pete” Aldridge, Jr., and the late Air Force Gen Bernard A. Schriever.

About the Space Foundation

Founded in 1983 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, the Space Foundation is a national nonprofit organization that vigorously advances civil, commercial, and national security space endeavors and inspires, enables, and propels tomorrow’s explorers. The Space Foundation also has an office in Washington, D.C., and Field Representatives in Houston, Tx. and Cape Canaveral, Fla. The Space Foundation is a leader in space awareness activities, trade association services, research and analysis for the global space industry, and educational enterprises that bring space into the classroom. The Space Foundation conducts the premier annual gathering of the global space community, the National Space Symposium, which takes place April 9-12, 2007, at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs. Along with partnering organizations, the Space Foundation also conducts Strategic Space and Defense (Oct. 9-11, 2007), in Omaha, Neb. For more information, visit www.SpaceFoundation.org.