NASA Exceptional Service Medal

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  The NASA Exceptional Service Medal doesn't go to someone who had one brilliant day. NASA inherited the award from NACA, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, which had established the honor before the space agency existed. The original version of the medal carried the NACA emblem; the NASA version replaced it with the NASA seal. Among the recipients across the decades are names central to American space history. Neil Armstrong received it in 1966, three years before walking on the Moon. Buzz Aldrin received it in 1969. What the full recipient list also reveals is how broadly NASA defines the contribution that deserves recognition.

  711492

• 2. Earned, Not Given

  ›

  'Significant sustained performance' is the bar the criteria set. That performance must be 'characterized by unusual initiative or creative ability.' The contribution must also 'clearly demonstrate substantial improvement.' The six recognized fields are engineering, aeronautics, space flight, administration, support, and space-related endeavors. Administration and support appear explicitly alongside engineering and flight. That breadth reflects a practical reality. Not every contribution to a NASA program involves flying or engineering hardware. Some recipients have earned the honor multiple times within careers that spanned decades. Charles Bolden received it three times, and David Williamson Jr. received three awards as well. Peggy Whitson received the medal four times, in 1993, 2003, 2006, and 2008.

  65371149

• 3. The Arc of the List

  ›

  Karl Heimburg, Tecwyn Roberts, and Sigurd Sjoberg all received the medal in 1969. Walter Schirra received it in 1964 and again in 1968. Frank Borman received it in 1965, John W. Young in both 1965 and 1966, and Michael Collins in 1966. That cluster of recipients in the mid-to-late 1960s gives way to a more dispersed pattern in subsequent decades. Lana Couch received the medal in 1986, Kevin L. Petersen in 1987, and Epaminondas Stassinopoulos in 1992. Chris Hadfield and Umberto Guidoni both received it in 2002. Christer Fuglesang and Julie Payette both received it in 2010. Brandon T. Bailey received the medal in 2019, fifty-five years after Schirra's first award. James A. Lovell's entry stands apart from all others. His award is noted as the medal 'with star,' a designation no other entry carries and that the criteria do not address.

  2813422725