Much like a symphony, where music is best created when each orchestra member flawlessly executes his or her part, building and launching a scientific satellite takes the expertise, talent, and dedication of a large workforce working to the highest standard.
The brilliant success of the Landsat 8 satellite—formerly called the Landsat Data Continuity Mission—is a testament of its workforce. Today, at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland a number of people from the Landsat 8 team were recognized with NASA’s 2014 Agency Awards.
Vicki Dulski, Brian Markham, and Jim Nelson received Outstanding Leadership Medals for their “high-impact leadership achievements.”
Ed Knight from Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp. and Kari Wulf from the Aerospace Corp. received Outstanding Public Leadership Medals for their high-impact leadership achievements as non-government employees.
Dann Brown, Lorrie Eakin, Rob Lilly, and Evan Webb received Exceptional Achievement Medals for their innovative approaches that contributed to Landsat 8’s success.
Del Jenstrom and Jason Williams received Exceptional Service Medals for playing an instrumental role during Landsat 8’s build and commissioning.
The entire Landsat Data Continuity Mission Team earned a Group Achievement Award for successfully developing, launching, and commissioning Landsat 8.
The group award recognizes the team’s successful efforts to overcome multiple technical challenges enabling Landsat 8 to outperform all previous Landsat missions—and doing so within budget and schedule commitments. Thanks to the team’s efforts the quality (and quanity) of Landsat 8 images exceeded the scientific community’s expectations and ensured the continuation of Landsat’s uninterupted four decade-plus scientific record of Earth’s land surface.
Past Landsat 8 recipients include: Jeff Pedelty (2013 Exceptional Achievement Medal), Cathy Richardson (2012 Outstanding Leadership Medal), and David Jarrett (2013, Exceptional Achievement Medal).
Further Information:
+ NASA’s Landsat 8 Project Scientist Awarded Agency’s Distinguished Service Medal
+ Landsat 8 sweeps the 2013 “Goddards”