Dr. Robert Smith Earns Prestigious NASA Award

HOUSTON, Tex. (10/26/98) -- Dr. Robert Smith, systems director at The Aerospace Corporation's Houston office, has received NASA's prestigious Silver Snoopy Award in recognition of his support to the International Space Station (ISS) program.

The Silver Snoopy is given by the Astronaut Office to those who have significantly enhanced NASA goals for the human exploration and development of space. The award is a sterling silver pin designed for the Astronaut Corps by Charles Shultz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon series. Smith was cited for mission-critical analyses. He determined that proper disposal of the ISS at its end of life was not receiving adequate attention. A "tiger" team was formed, and the ISS Environmental Impact statement was changed.

His work in initiating, developing and leading a new program for independent assessment of flight-by-flight reviews is now the standard for the program. An early review was instrumental in bringing a number of disparate ISS organizations together. Reviewers examined the distribution of shuttle flights supporting the assembly sequence, and the assembly flights were redistributed.

Smith also performed important technical analyses on the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) for space station attitude determination, GPS multipath issues, and the Interim Control Module preliminary design review.

He was presented with a letter of commendation from astronaut Jan Davis, a framed certificate, and a Silver Snoopy pin that was flown aboard shuttle mission STS-85.